
Class. 
Book. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE SCIENCE 



OF 



HYPNOTISM 

the wonder of the 
20th century 

All Known Methods Explained. 

THE WAY TO BECOME 
AN EXPERT OPERATOR, ETC. 



EDITED AND COMPILED BY 

L E. YOUNG. 



Brooklyn, N, Y.: 

M. YOUNG, Publisher, 

363 Hen*^ . Street. ' 




X 



t.\ 






A 



'Si 



^ 



45298 



Copyright 
August, 1899, 
By M. Young. 

TWO COPIES RECEIVED 



see JND OOPY. 







PREFACE. 



npHE tidal wave of Hypnotism Is fast approaching the 
shores of America. The press, the medical faculty, 
the scientist, the layman, in fact the masses, all are 
reaching out and seeking for more knowledge, for facts, 
and for Information on this most wonderful and strange 
subject. Many that have in the past been sceptical, are 
now counted among the believers and adherents. The 
study of Hypnotism has proved to be not only interesting 
but instructive, and therefore, the demand Is increasing 
for books, treating this subject fairly, and without preju- 
dice, and such works find a welcome reception and are 
eagerly sought after. It has become a common topic* 
of conversation among all classes from the. college pro- 
fessor to the schoolboy. 

The Importance of Hypnotism as a healing agent is 
fast becoming understood by many throughout our land. 
Hypnotism does not come before the American people 
an entire stranger. Its advance guard has already marched 



over the entire Continent of Europe, and its noble work 
has been witnessed there by thousands of our citizens, 
many of whom have tested its wonderful healing power. 
Thousands of invalids have been cured in the hospitals 
of France and Germany of diseases that appear not 
to have been reached by any other method. Hypnotism 
promises a great deal to those who suffer from terrible 
habits — especially the morphine, the alcoholic, the tobacco, 
the opium, and many others, and if we can reach these 
unfortunates by the publication of this book we feel 
positive in saying that a large percentage of those who 
study its pages can be cured, and all more or less 
benefitted. 

We have traversed a very large field to gain the 
information this book gives. We have embodied the 
experiences and views of many who rank high in the 
medical world, and have for many years treated success- 
fully thousands of patients every year by Hypnotism, 
in European hospitals, and their success appears to have 
been something bordering on the miraculous. In some 
of the chapters we have given their methods and their 
mode of treatment, and such facts as might interest the 
general reader. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

Hypnotism as a Science — What Hypnotism means — When Hyp- 
notism was discovered, and by whom — The different names 
this Science has been known by. . . . . . 13 



CHAPTER n. 1/ 

Hypnotism as discovered by Dr. J. Br^id; his method, and a 
few interesting cases as cited by him, in his noted book 
"Neurypnology." 28 



CHAPTER HI. ^^ 
The School of Nancy— The Nine Degrees of Hypnotism— The 
Theory of Hypnotism as advanced by Dr. Liebault, the founder 
of the Nancy School — The discovery of "Suggestion," showing 
how it has helped the Science of Hypnotism to advance in the 
Medical World 51 

CHAPTER IV. ^ 

Dr. Liebault of Nancy— Description of his treatment and the 
method employed at the School at Nancy— His system free 
from Mysticism— Curative Suggestion, as applied by Dr. Lie- 
bault — Absolute sleep or unconsciousness unnecessary for 
curative treatment— Different stages of Hypnotism, as known 
at the Nancy School. . . , » . . * 66 



CHAPTER V. 

M. Charcot experiments at La Salpetriere — Dr. Burq's discovery — 
The method used at La Salpetriere — Hysteria and Hypnotism 
closely combined, says M. Charcot — Neurosis theory has many 
followers. 88 

CHAPTER VL 

The School of the Hospital de la Charite— Dr. J. Luys' method, and 
his many finds, which have helped Hypnotism — The hypnotic 
mirror — Its uses and successes — The effects of colored balls on 
hypnotized patients — The use of animal magnetism as united 
with hypnotism — The uses of drugs, and their influence on 
hypnotized persons — The uses of magnets in hypnotism. . 102 

CHAPTER Vn. 

The Classifications of Hypnotism — The Inductive Stages of Hyp- 
nosis Classified as used in the different Methods — Gurney, 
Speculative Stages of Hypnosis — Lloyd Tuckey's Classifica- 
tions of Hypnosis — Dr. Li^bault Stages of Hypnotism, numbers 
six — Bernheim's Divisions of Hypnotism — The Method used by 
Ralph H. Vincent, of London, England — Very Important to 
a Student in Hypnotism. 11 1 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Induction of Hypnosis, by the Fascination method — The 
method as first used by Donato — Dr. Bremaud's method of 
Fascination as it differs from other methods — Abbot Faria's 
method — The power of the magnet to induce Hypnosis — Carl 
Saxtus, method — The candle method — Professor Bernheim's 
method of Suggestion, as used by himself on his patients. 126 

CHAPTER IX. 

Telepathic suggestion — Hallucination — Auto-suggestion — Post- 
hypnotic suggestion. . . . . . . . 13.S 



CHAPTER X. 

Somnambulism — Arousing Latent Memories, after Waking from a 
Somnambulistic Sleep — The use of Tobacco Cured— Curing 
Drunkenness — The Curing of the Morphia Mania — The dangers 
of Hypnotism and Drugs compared 155 



CHAPTER XL 

The Phenomena of Hypnotism — Why Hypnosis is different in 
different subjects — Proof that such a Science as Hypnotism 
exists — Rapport — Double Consciousness — Max Dessoir Theory 
— H. Bernheim Theory. ... .168 



CHAPTER Xn. 

What can be done with Hypnotism — The elevated moral tone of 
Subjects when hypnotized — Three rules, never to be forgotten 
by the operator — Can hypnotism be simulated? — Professor 
Gregory's views— How to waken subjects without harm. , 184 



CHAPTER Xni. 

The Wonders of Hypnotism — Hypnotism as a Curative Power — 
The effects of Hypnotism upon the Senses — The effect of 
Hypnotism on the Function of Individual Organs — All Turns 
on the way Suggestion is made — 'Donatism.' . 195 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Wonders of Hypnotism Continued — Catalepsy — Automatic 
Movement — The Phenomena of Imitative Speech — Hemi- 
Hypnosis — Increased Sensitiveness of Hypnotic Subjects — 
Hypersesthesia of the Eye — Suggestion and Hypnosis — 
Circulation and Respiration in Hypnotism— Memory in 
Hypnotism — Hypermnesia 206 



CHAPTER XV. 

{From the New Yolrk Journal, June, 1899.] 

A Boy who can see straight through your clothes to your very 
Bones — How he has diagnosed Diseases which puzzled Physi- 
cians — Described Internal Disorders which Science had no 
way of finding out, and explained Fractures of Bones which 
the Doctors did not suspect — Physicians confronted with a 
Scientific Phenomenon which it is impossible to explain. 218 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The dangers of Hypnotism. ...... ^32 

CHAPTER XVn. 

Brief Explanations of Important Points in Hypnotism — Special 
Advice and Instructions to Young Experimenters, and Particular 
Reference to Inducing Hypnotic Sleep and Awaking. . 241 



PART 11. 



Animal Magnetism — Magnetic Clairvoyance — Influence of Animal 
Magnetism on the Body — Plan of Mesmer — Principles of Del- 
euze — Influence of Animal Magnetism on the Mind — New 
Theory of Animal Magnetism — Process used in India to produce 
Magnetic Sleep— Art of Mind Reading. . . 264-320 



Noted Writers on Hypnotism, 



WE would suggest to all who expect to study Hypnotism in 
detail to secure the latest and best books on that subject. 
You will find the titles of several of the Standard Books named 
below, to which we owe a tribute of thanks for extracts we have 
made. 

Neurypnology, - - - By Dr. James Braid. 

The Elements of Hypnotism, - By Ralph H. Vincent. 

Psychotherapeutics, - - By Lloyd Tuckey, M.D. 

Le Magnetisme Animal, - - By Binet and Fere. 

Der Hypnotismus, - - - - - By Forel. 

Du SoMMEiL, - - - - - By Liebault. 

The Subliminal Consciousness, - - By F. Myers. 

Suggestion and Reflex, - - By Karl Schoffer. 

De la Suggestions et du Somnambulisme, By Liegeois. 
EiNE Experimentelle Studie auf dem Gebiete 

DES Hypnotismus, - - - By Krafft-Ebing. 

De la Suggestion Mentale, - - By Ochorowicz. 

Das Doppel-Ich, - - - By Max Dessoir. 

The two following books are published by the London Society 
of Psychical Researches: 
Peculiarities of Certain Post-Hypnotic States, 

By Gurney. 
Phantasms of the Living. - 

The following books we can furnish sent prepaid by mail, at 
the prices named in this book: 

Suggestive Therapeutics, - - - By Bernheim. 

Hypnotism, ----- By Albert Moll. 

The Law of Psychic Phenomena, By Thomson J. Hudson, 
Hypnotism, How it is Done, - By James R. Cocke, M.D. 
Hypnotism, - - - By Dr. Foveau de Courmelles. 

Hypnotism, - - - - - By Carl Saxtus. 



HYPNOTISM. 



CHAPTER I. 

HYPNOTISM. 

Hypnotism as a Science — What Hypnotism means — Wiien Hyp- 
notism was discovered, and by whom — The different names 
this Science has been known by. 

Hypnotism, comparatively speaking, is a new word, 
although the science is as old as the world — as old as 
the human mind. 

In whatever quarter we direct our researches, whether 
it be in dusty old manuscripts or deciphering hieroglyphics, 
we find the indelible traces of the influence of man over 
man. 

Diodorus of Sicily, writes : "The ancient Egyptian 
priests threw each other into trances," thus showing that 
they understood something of the art of Hypnotism. 

On the Zodiac, in the arched wall of the Temple at 
Denderah, Isis Is depicted holding a child by the hand, 
while she passes her other hand in front of him In the 
the attitude of a magnetlzer. 

Prosper Alplnus, in his treatise on the Egyptian 
practice of medicine, mentions their mysterious chafing 
and rubbing, and manipulating of the body, for all disease. 

In India, Mythology represents Vishun with flames 
issuing from his finger-ends, and it was said that the 
light and heat from them cured all the Ills of life. 



14 HYPNOTISM. 

The fakirs of India have great dexterity In their 
Sankhya philosophy, and believed that they, like Kopila 
are perpetually exempt from every sort of evil and bodily 
ills. They practice their arts to-day the same as they have 
for thousands of years. India is the home of Occult 
Sciences, and the peculiar rules and doctrines of their 
faith are laid down in several of their holy books, 
especially in the "Yoga Satra," which teaches how an 
ascetic or devotee can enter the fourth stage of life, in 
which the human soul becomes permanently united to the 
Supreme Being, which gives man the mysterious power 
to control all other men who are not advanced into the 
yoga system of Hindoo philosophy. 

Sanskrit literature tells of one Indian god, Brahman, 
who introduced medicine into all India. Charaka, tells 
us, that Brahman, with gentle v/ords and a few passes of 
the left hand over the forehead of his patient, would 
produce a sleep which had a wonderful power; and that 
he became renowned as a healer of bodily ills, and seldom 
used herbs. From Brahman, comes down the long road 
of time the saying, that ' ' magic and medicine are 
combined." 

The Assyrian scholars, have recently brought to 
light, the proof, that the old word "magi," signifies 
"reverend," and that the early Scythian, who inhabited 
Babylonia 500 years B. c, gave the title magi to their 
most learned priests and philosophers. They were not 
only the "keeper of the sacred things, the learned of 
the people, the philosophers and servants of 'God,' " but 
"diviners and mantles, wonder-workers and prophets." 
They were believed to have the power to call up the 
dead, to be able to bring disaster wherever they wished 



HYPNOTISM. 15 

by resorting to awful formulas which were in their exclusive 
possession, to heal the sick by means of water, and passes 
of the hand. 

The oldest traditions of Persia, hold that these Baby- 
lonian sages had control over darkness and fire, as well 
as over the mind and body of man. In matter of fact, 
the word magi, became a general name for wonderful 
effects, produced in some mysterious way. The law of 
nature being Httle known ; one thing was not more 
incredible than another ; and effects were assigned to 
causes in the most arbitrary and accidental way. The 
Rosicrucian physicians treated a case of wounding by 
applying the salve to the weapon instead of to the wound 
itself, and, the wound was healed. Hyppocrates believed 
in somnambulistic powers. It is also well-knov/n that 
exhibitions were got up, and that Aristophanes openly 
derided the wizards of olden days. 

Thus we find that the broad idea that man is endowed 
with a dual mental organization Is far from being 7iew. 
The essential truth of the proposition has been recognized 
by philosophers of all ages and nations of the civilized 
world. That man Is a trinity, made up of " body, soul, and 
spirit ' ' was a cardinal tenet in the early faith of the ancient 
Greek philosophers, who thus clearly recognized the dual 
character of man's mental or spiritual organization. Plato's 
idea of terrestrial man was that he is a ''trinity of soul, 
soul-body, and earth-body." The mystic jargon of the 
Hermetic philosopher declares the same general idea. The 
"salt, sulphur, and mercury" of the ancient alchemists 
doubtless refers to man as being composed of a trinity of 
elements. The early Christian Fathers confidently pro- 
claimed the same doctrine as Is shown in the writings of 



1 6 HYPNOTISM. 

Clement, Orlgen, Titian, and many other early exponents 
of Christian doctrine. 

Therefore it is safe to state that man, has, or appears 
to have, two minds, each endowed with separate and 
distinct attributes and powers; each capable, under certain 
conditions, of independent action. It should be clearly 
understood at the outset that for the purpose of arriving at 
a correct conclusion it is a matter of indifference whether 
we consider that man is endowed with two distinct minds, 
or that his one mind possesses certain attributes and 
powers under some conditions, and certain other attributes 
and powers under other conditions. It is sufficient to know 
that everything happens just as though he were endowed 
with a dual mental organization. 

In recent years, the doctrine of duality of mind is 
beginning to be more clearly defined, and it may now be 
said to constitute a cardinal principal in the philosophy 
of many of the ablest exponents of this new, yet old 
psychology. 

Thousands of examples might be cited to show that 
in all the ages the truth has been dimly recognized by 
men of all civilized races and in all conditions of life. 
Indeed, it way be safely predicted of every man of 
intelligence and refinement, that he has often felt within 
himself an intelligence not the result of education, a 
perception of truth independent of the testimony of his 
bodily senses. 

It is natural to suppose that a proposition, the sub- 
stantial correctness of which has been so widely recognized, 
must not only possess a sohd basis of truth, but must, if 
clearly understood, possess a veritable significance of the 
utmost importance to mankind. 

Now, as we are willing to acknowledge two minds, 



HYPNOTISM. 17 

and recognize that the two minds possess distinct charac- 
teristics essentially unlike, we know that each is endowed 
with separate and distinct attributes and powers, and that 
each is capable, under certain conditions and limitations, 
of independent action. We know, then, that the general 
difference between man's two minds may be stated as 
follows : 

The objective mind takes cognizance of the objective 
world. It is the outgrowth of man's physical necessities. 
It is his guide in his struggles with his material environment. 
Its highest function is that of reasoning clearly. 

The second, or subjective mind takes cognizance of 
its environment by means independent of the physical 
senses. It perceives by intuition. It is the seat of the 
emotions and the storehouse of memory. It performs its 
highest functions when the objective senses are in abey- 
ance. In a word, it is that intelligence which makes 
itself manifest in a hypnotic subject, when he is in a 
state of somnambulism. 

It is in this state many of the most wonderful feats of 
the subjective mind are performed. It sees without the 
use of the natural organs of vision; and in this, as in many 
other grades, or degrees, of the hypnotic state, it can be 
made, apparently, to leave the body, and travel to distant 
lands and bring back intelligence, oftentimes of the most 
exact and truthful character. It also has the power to read 
the thought of others, even to the minutest details; to read 
the contents of sealed envelopes and of closed books. In 
short, it is the subjective mind that possesses what is 
popularly designated as clairvoyant power, and the ability 
to apprehend the thought of others without the aid of the 
ordinary objective means of communication. 



1 8 HYPNOTISM. 

Two thousand years ago, the inhabitants of East 
India understood the relations of the two minds to each 
other, and this we must partly attribute to their great 
success in all matters relating to this most wonderful of 
science. 

The history of the middle . ages is full of wonders — 
mysteries — and experiments, all wrought to master this 
science, which comes down to us, with a newness and a 
vast undiscovered sphere that no other science offers this 
generation. 

During the Middle Ages all Europe studied this 
science under many names, such as Magic, Mind-reading, 
Wonder-working, Secret-mysterious, Animal- magnetism, 
Hindoo-science, Will-power, Soul-power, Unnatural sleep, 
Psychology, Clairvoyance, Witchcraft, Somnambulism, 
Mesmerism, Mineral-power, Personal-magnetism, and now 
the name of this century, is HYPNOTISM. 

The Middle Ages can boast of many distinguished 
names among the students who attempted to treat the 
** Secret-Mysterious " as a grand science, by which the 
workings of nature could be discovered, and a god- 
like power be acquired over the "spirits, men and the 
elements." The principal students and professors were 
Pope Sylvester 11. , Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Ray- 
mond Lully, Pico della Mirandola, Paracelsus, Cornelius 
Agrippa, Trithemius, Van Helmont, and perhaps the most 
noted of that era, Jerome Cardan, who left behind him 
many valuable papers pertaining to his researches along 
this line. He mentions a state of insensibility produced 
by a magnet, he also speaks of bright spots throwing a 
subject to sleep; again, he says, '* a sudden glance cast 



HYPNOTISM. 19 

unexpectedly upon a highly sensitive subject will cause 
him to start forward. 

Paracelsus asserts his theory of double magnetism, and 
shows that the magnetic fluid of a healthy body attracts 
the weaker and deteriorated magnet of an unhealthy one; 
so also do Glocenius, Burgraeve, Helinotius, Robert Fludd, 
Father Kircher and Maxwell, in the latter part of the 
sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth centuries. 
These latter considered that the magnet was endowed with 
the principle of existence. A great number of more or less 
hazy works, full of abstract terms, often misunderstood by 
those who employed them, have been handed down to 
posterity, and they all show the influence of that passionate 
love of the marvelous which humanity seems unable to 
shake ofl". It would seem, indeed, from all past experience, 
and even judging from the present state of society, that an 
irresistible attraction draws us toward the study of the 
Occult Sciences at the close of each century, then the 
attraction dies away and vanishes, to rejoin the forgotten 
bygone ages that have preceded it, only to return to us 
when another age is about to depart. 

The close of the eighteenth century, filled as it was 
with a feverish and mystical activity, proved no exception 
to the rule. A worldly-minded generation, overflowing 
with nervous temperament, and over excited by the 
expectation of some great event, was inevitably destined 
to produce such a man as Mesmer. 

In this name, full of magic reminiscences, our waning 
nineteenth century sees one who has been cruelly traduced, 
and is almost ready to worship him. His name is to 
be rehabilitated, and the charlatan of former days is very 
near being transformed into the great man of the present 
time. 



20 HYPNOTISM. 

Mesmer Is proclaimed the creator of scientific mag- 
netism, the scholar who has given us the fruitful Inheritance; 
whose ideas and labors have led to vast researches. 

Mesmer argued that the sun, moon and stars acted 
on the human body by means of a subtle fluid, which 
he called Animal Magnetism, in order to point out its 
aflinity with the magnet. 

A few years later came Father Hell, a Jesuit, who 
cured diseases by means of magnetized Iron. 

In 1787, a pupil of Doctor Mesmer, the Marquis 
Chastenet de Puysegur, attracted all the scientific world 
to Buzancy, near Soissons, where he obtained most 
remarkable results. 

Doctor Cloquet relates that he saw there, patients no 
longer the victims of violent hysterical fits, but enjoying 
a calm, peaceful restorative and silent slumber. It may 
be said that from this moment, really efficacious and 
useful magnetism became known. Puysegur had resus- 
citated magnetism, public opinion had become infatuated 
once more about this new agent that was to be the 
gratuitous means of curing mankind. Puysegur' s "tree" 
impregnated with the fluid, was touched by hundreds of 
persons who came from all parts, and the effects were 
most beneficial. The learned naturalist Deleuze, wrote 
in 18 13, the " HIstoIre Critique du Magnetlsme Animal," 
which sums up the question as It stood at that period. 

About the same time there appeared in Southern 
Germany, Father Gassner, a priest, who effected some 
wonderful cures. This method consisted of the patient 
being ushered into a semi-dark room, and then, from a 
portiere, Father Gassner emerged with outstretched hands, 
carrying the crucifix held aloof Directing his gaze 



HYPNOTISM. 21 

sharply on the patient, he exclaimed in thundering tones 
in Latin: ^^ Detur mihi evidens signum proestigice 
-braeternaiuralis ^ proecipio hoc in nomine Jesu!^^ 

If the individual was at all susceptible he would fall into 
the crisis or unconscious state. Father Gassner was a wise 
man, much ahead of his time, and he took advantage of it. 
Among the men who stood by him and believed in his 
science were Carl Albrecht, Prince of Hohenlohe-Walden- 
burg-, and Ludwig Joseph, Bishop of Freisinger. In 1820, 
Dr. Bertrand, formerly a cadet at the Ecole Polytechnique, 
held a course of public lectures on Magnetism and ortho- 
dox science, now took up the interesting questions. Dr. 
Husson at the Hotel-Dieu; Dr. Goerget and Dr. Rastan at 
the Salpetriere, induced Baron du Potet to perform experi- 
ments in their different wards, many experiments proving 
very w^onderful. 

In 1825, Dr. Foissac persuaded the Academy of Med- 
icine of Paris, France, to take up the subject, and that 
learned body of the most noted men of the world admitted 
that magnetism did exist: — 

' * Considered either as an agent of physiological phen- 
omena or as a curative means," said the members of this 
commission, "magnetism must be allotted a place in 
medical knowledge; consequently doctors alone must make 
use of it, or at least superintend its application. The com- 
mission has collected and noted down facts important 
enough to warrant the Academy's authorizing the study of 
magnetism as a serious branch of Psychology and Natural 
History." 

The above declaration was signed by Bourdois, De 
la Motte, Fenguier Gueneau de Mussy, Guersant, Itard, 
J. Leroux, Marc, Thillaye. 



22 HYPNOTISM. 

From this time, Magnetism was in the hands of honest 
men, and has never since gone astray. It is of course, 
Hke all great sciences, open to doubt, and its partisans 
may even be considered mad, but with the exception of 
Mesmer's cupidity none of its adherents have been swayed 
by mercenary motives. Puysegur, indeed offered a striking 
contrast to Mesmer, and avoided all public exhibitions 
and everything that could affect the imagination, never 
choosing special subjects, but experimenting on peasants 
— male or female— afflicted with stubborn and matter of 
fact diseases. He however, admitted the marvellous and 
believed in somnambulistic lucidity. 

About the same period, Baron du Potet invented the 
Magic Mirror, which convulsed so many people. The 
famous magnetiser first traced on the floor with a bit of 
charcoal, a complete and blackened circle. The subject 
drew near and then receded, looking alternately at the 
spectators and at the circle. "Soon," writes Baron du 
Potet, "the effect is visible. The 6-?^4^V<:^'^ head is lowered, 
his whole person becomes uneasy; he turns round and 
round the circle without taking his eyes off it, then bends 
lower, rises again, draws back a few steps, then advances 
again, frowns, looks morose and gloomy, and breathes 
heavily. The most curious scene then follows. The 
subject, without doubt, sees images reflected in the mirror, 
for his perturbation, his emotion, his strange motions, 
his sobs, tears, anger, despair, and fury, all prove the 
disorder and agitation of his mind. For him it is no 
dream or nightmare ; the apparitions are relative, and a 
series of future events represented by figures and signs 
that he understands, unfold themselves before him, filling 
him in turn with joy or sadness, as they pass before his 



HYPNOTISM. 23 

eyes. Soon he is seized with a transport of frenzy, 
strives to lay hold of the phantoms, and dashing forward 
stamps with his foot on the blackened circle, the dust 
flies up, and the operator now approaches and puts an 
end to this dramatic performance, so full of excitement 
and terror." 

In all this, du Potet fancied he saw magic ; but 
Hypnotism obtained by physical means brings about the 
same results, but in a very pleasant way. 

Father Lacordaire, from the pulpit of Notre Dame, 
acknowledged the existence of magnetism. ** Wrapped in 
a fictitious sleep," he said, "man sees through opaque 
bodies; he is able to indicate remedies that heal, and 
appears to know things he knew not while awake." 

The enthusiasm now became universal in France. The 
new ideas found disciples even amongst the clergy, and an 
encyclical letter from the Holy Inquisition was addressed 
to the Roman CathoHc Bishops (July 30th, 1856), warning 
them against the errors and dangers of magnetism. 

The next to call attention to it was Dr. James Braid, a 
surgeon of Manchester, England. After incredulously 
witnessing experiments by La Fontaine, a French traveling 
mesmerist, he became interested in the science, and later 
on Dr. Braid renamed this science to Hypnotism, and 
employed his method in all cases possible. 

Dr. Braid, however, did not seek to deny magnetism for 
he wrote as follows in his book on " Neurypnology " : 

" For a long time I beHeved the phenomena produced 
by my experiments and those produced by mesmerists to 
be identical; and after a close investigation, I have come to 
the conclusion that there is a certain analogy in the effects 
produced on the nervous system. Nevertheless, and judg- 



24 HYPNOTISM. 

ing from the effects magnetizers declare they have obtained 
in certain cases, there seems to be enough differentia to 
lead one to consider HypJiotism and Mesmerism as two 
distinct agents. ' ' 

When Dr. Braid made this discovery, hypnotism had 
its origin, and the fact was established, that sleep coula 
be induced by physical agents. This, it must be remembered, 
is the essential difference between these two classes of 
phenomena ; for magnetism supposes a direct action of 
the magnetizer on the magnetized subject ; an action 
which does not exist in Hypnotism. This distinction is 
not generally made, hence the confusion between the two 
methods. Whenever the word hypnotism is therefore 
employed, the reader must remember that it is sleep 
induced by physical agents that is understood, that is to 
say, sleep obtained by fixing the gaze on some object 
(as Dr. Braid discovered) or by some sudden sound, 
like that of a Chinese gong (such as is used at present 
at Salpetriere). When, on the other hand, the word 
magnetism is employed, it will be understood that reference 
is made to a subject passing from a waking condition 
into that of sleep, owing to the personal action of the 
experimentist on the experimentized. 

Following his example, came Dr. Esdaile, Presidency 
Surgeon of Bengal, at Calcutta, who employed hypnotism 
in nearly all his operations. 

Then for a few years this science made little if any 
progress. The value of this wonderful " Braid " discovery 
was not appreciated by the English, and it was not until 
the Continental scientists extended their researches that he 
obtained substantial recognition. 

Liebault was the first to confirm his experiments. He 



HYPNOTISM. 25 

was, in fact, the founder of what is now known as the 
Nancy school of hypnotism. It was founded in 1866. 

Many prominent scientists have followed him, among 
them worth especial mention: Ch. Richet, Bremaund, 
Beaunes, Delboeuf, Beyon, Facachau, Mabille, Liegeois, 
Forel, Chas. Fere, and Alfred Binet, also Professor Bern- 
heim, the author of the book "Suggestive Therapeutics" 
which many assert to be the best medical work on hyp- 
notism and therapeutic suggestion which has ever been 
written. Prof Bernheim for years was a member of the 
f iculty at Nancy. 

Professor Charcot, of the Paris Salpetriere, is also the 
founder of a school of hypnotism, which is generally known 
as the Paris school, or school of the Salpetriere. Charcot's 
great reputation as a scientist obtained for him many 
followers. 

Prof Charcot mostly hypnotized ladies, and especially 
hysterics. At La Salpetriere, he studied hypnotism mostly 
through hysterical subjects. Charcot has, by his cures, 
done an immense good, curing people by the thousands 
of a number of diseases. 

To Charcot is given the honor of first classifying the 
different phases of hypnotic sleep into the Lethargic, 
Cataleptic and Somnambulistic stages. 

To Dr. Burg is given the honor of reviving hypnotism 
in France ; and it is to him the world owes the knowledge 
of the effects of different metals upon the human system. 
Dr. J. Luys, a member of the Academy of Medicine, has 
performed many curious experiments in the Hospital de 
la Charite. The action of physical agents —even at a 
distance — and of Suggestion are both admitted at La 
Charite. Dr. Luys' method we give later on in this work. 



26 HYPNOTISM. 

Jarval, an Ophthalmologist Member of the Academy 
of Medicine, and Dr. Foveau de Caurmelles are making 
wonderful discoveries in their researches on the eyes, 
through the power and aid of hypnotism. 

We can furnish Dr. Foveau de Caurmelles' latest 
book on * ' Hypnotism, " as it is practised in the European 
Hospitals. This work is illustrated and sells for $2.50, 
sent post-paid by mail. 

Albert Moll, of Berlin, Germany, who is one of the 
ablest, and certainly one of the most unprejudiced of 
modern scientific writers on the subject of hypnotism, 
writes as following : 

"Considering the light of our present knowledge of 
hypnotism, the most we can accomplish toward an 
explanation of it Is to compare its phenomena with those 
observed in waking life. By way of explanation, let us 
suppose that we are trying to explain a hypnotic negative 
hallucination of sight. We must compare it with a corres- 
ponding phenomenon in waking life. By so doing we 
will notice that in the hypnotic state the patient fails to 
perceive any object which the operator tells him he cannot 
see, while in waking life we should be all the more certain 
to see an object when told that it is not there, from the 
fact of our attention being directed toward it." 

In explanation of this point of difference. Dr. Moll, fol- 
lowing Wundt, assumed the existence of a so-called dream 
consciousness In the hypnotic state. 

It is believed by means of this method of analogy, 
many phenomena, both hypnotic and post-hypnotic, can be 
explained. Self-observation is a most valuable aid to 
investigation. A great number of different states are 
included under the head of hypnosis, and takes up the 



HYPNOTISM. 27 

discussion of the various hypnotic phenomena in the fol- 
lowing order: 

First: — The phenomena of Suggestion as regards vol- 
untary movements. 

Second: — Positive and negative delusions of the Senses. 

Third : —Rapport. 

Fourth: — The phenomena of Memory. 

Fifth : — Post-Hypnotic Suggestion. 

Two rules are emphasized by Dr. Moll as of great 
importance in enabling us to clearly comprehend the 
various symptoms of the hypnotic condition. The first 
is, * * that men have a certain proneness to allow themselves 
to be influenced by others through their ideas, and, in 
particular, to believe much without making conscious 
logical deductions"; the second rule, "A psychological 
or physiological effect tends to appear in a man if he is 
expecting it." 

Dr. Moll gives some very interesting cases of his 
researches, in his new book "Hypnotism as a Science." 
The price of this book is $2.50 sent by mail, fully prepaid. 
We furnish all books mentioned in this volume that we can 
procure in America. We will do this to accommodate the 
readers who may be unable to purchase it in their locality. 
The time Is coming, in fact almost at hand, when the 
subject of Hypnotism will interest this entire nation, and 
that class of literature will be eagerly sought after. 



28 HYPNOTISM. 



CHAPTER II. 

HYPNOTISM. 

As discovered by Dr. J. Braid; his method, and a few interesting 
cases as cited by him, in his noted book " Neurypnology. " 

This science had lived under many names, none, 
quite what the world demanded, for science so profound 
and mysterious, yet so simple and easily applied. It 
had received many names before Dr. Braid undertook 
the task of rechristening it, but each was objectional, 
because they all implied something more or less than the 
science gave. But when Dr. Braid denominated it, 
Hypnotism— ixovci the Greek word signifying sleep — it 
was hailed as a compromise sufficiently non-commital to 
entitle it to recognition, and "hypnotism" it will be 
called until some Academician drags to light the ultimate 
cause of all things. 

Dr. Braid is entitled to great credit for the discovery 
that the hypnotic state can be induced independently of 
the presence or co-operation of another person. Two 
facts seem to have been demonstrated by his experiments, 
both of which are of the utmost importance. 

First : — That the hypnotic sleep can be induced 
independently of personal contact with, or the personal 
influence of, another. 



HYPNOTISM, 29 

Second:— That the sleep can be induced by his 
method without the aid of any suggestion. 

The mistake which his followers have made is in 
jumping to the conclusion that because one of the primary 
conditions of hypnotic phenomena can be induced without 
the aid of the magnetic hypothesis, therefore the magnetic 
hypothesis is necessarily incorrect. The same logic would 
induce a man who for the first time sees a railroad train 
in motion to conclude that any other method of locomotion 
is impracticable. Braid, himself, was not so illogical; for 
he expressly says that he does not consider the methods 
identical, but does ' ' consider the condition of the nervous 
system induced by both modes to be analogous." 

The scientific development of hypnotism we will now 
begin to give. In this we see, to a certain extent, a 
combination of the two processes just mentioned. That 
is to say, it is found that special manipulation can call 
forth a changed mental condition, hypnosis; it can, how- 
ever, also be shown that when a man calls this out it is 
not by virtue of any pecuhar and mysterious unknown 
power — as until Braid's time was supposed. 

At first. Dr. Braid considered hypnotism to be identical 
with the mesmeric states, but he soon gave up this view ; 
he was of opinion that the two conditions were only 
analogous, and he left mesmerism in an independent 
position by the side of Hypnotism. Braid was acquainted 
with the cataleptic phenomena, (as we will show) and 
certain suggestions, and used hypnotism therapeutically; 
in particular, he used it to perform painless surgical 
operations. Already, earlier, mesmerism had been several 
times made use of in surgical operations. 

To Dr. Braid is due the discovery of hypnotism, and 



30 HYPNOTISM, 

the A\ords Braidism and Braidic suggestion have remained 
in science to commemorate a new doctrine which arose 
in the very face of Mesmerism. 

Dr. Braid proved that no magnetic fluid exists, and 
that no mysterious force emanates from the hypnotizer. 
The hypnotic state and its associated phenomena are 
purely subjective in their origin, which is in the nervous 
system of the subject himself The fixation of a brilliant 
object so that the muscle which holds up the upper eyelid 
becomes fatigued, and the concentration of the attention 
on a single idea brings about the sleep. The subjects 
can even bring about this condition themselves, by their 
own tension of mind, without being submitted to any 
influence from without. In this state, the imagination 
becomes so lively that every idea spontaneously developed 
or suggested by a person to whom the subject gives this 
peculiar attention and confidence, has the value of 
an actual representation for him. The oftener these 
phenomena are induced, the more readily and easily can 
they be induced, for such is the law of association and 
habit. If the hypnotizer' s will is not expressed by his 
words or his gestures, or if the subject does not under- 
stand them, no phenomena appears. The attitude which 
is given the hypnotized subject, the position into which 
the muscles of his limbs or face are put, may give rise 
to sentiment, passions, and acts corresponding to these 
anatomical attitudes, in the same manner that the sug- 
gestion of certain sentiments or passions may give rise to 
co-relative mimicked attitude or expression. 

This part of Braid's work cannot be attacked. Obser- 
vation confirms it on all points. But Braid's experiments 
did not make such stir till years after the discovery of 
hypnotism. 



HYPNOTISM. 31 

Dr. Braid also showed besides that these phenomena 
could be induced in certain subjects, in the waking con- 
dition, by simple vocal suggestion, which fact he published 
in a memoir entitled: The Power of the Mind over the 
Body. Emotion, sensation, the passions, and even the 
exercise of the organic functions could be modified by a 
foreign will without the induction of hypnotism. 

Braid had proved that the concentration of the attention 
and thought, obtained by fixation of the gaze, were the 
determining causes of the hypnotic state, but he did not try 
to fathom the physiological and psychological mechanism 
of the phenomena. 

Durand de Gros tried to go further, and to explain 
the relations which exist between this concentration of 
thought (the first point of departure of the Braidic 
modification), and the appearance of insensibility, catalepsy, 
and ecstacy; that is, in a word, the profound and general 
revolution of the economy which is its culminating point. 

The following is the author's theory, as he himself 
gives it : 

''A general and sufiiciently intense activity of thought 
is necessary for the regular diffusion of nervous force in 
the nerves of sensibility. If this activity ceases, the 
innervation of these nerves is suppressed, and they lose 
their ability to conduct external impressions to the brain. 
In fact, we know that idiots are more or less anaesthetic, 
etc. On the other hand, sensation is the necessary 
stimulus to mental activity. 

* ' From this it follows, that in order to bring about 
insensibility, it suffices to suspend the exercise of thought, 
and, in order to suspend this, it is necessary to isolate 
the senses from the external agents which act upon them. 



32 HYPNOTISM. 

It is not possible to suspend the actions of the mind, but 
they may be reduced to a minimum, by submitting them 
exclusively to a simple, homogeneous, and continuous 
sensation; thus, its sphere of action is reduced to a simple 
point. The cerebral ganglion-cell continues to secrete its 
nervous force, but that only consumes a very small part 
of the whole amount; hence its nervous force accumulates 
in the brain until congestion takes place. This is the 
first part of the Braidic operation, which produces what 
the author calls the hypotaxic condition. This condition 
being once produced, the impression glides in as far as 
the brain, through the half open door of the sensorium, 
along the path of sight, of hearing, or of muscular sense, 
and the point to which this excitation is transferred, 
immediately emerges from its torpor, to become the seat 
of an activity which the tension of the nervous force 
increases with all its power. Thus it is that general arrest 
of innervation will all at once succeed an excessive local 
innervation, which for example, will instantaneously 
substitute hypersesthesia for insensibility, and catalepsy, 
tetanus, etc., for relaxation of the muscular system, etc. 

* ' The available nervous force may be called to this or 
that functional point of the centre of innervation, by direct- 
ing toward this point an impression, which arouses its 
peculiar activity. To accomplish this, a mental impression 
is employed, that is to say, an idea is suggested. This 
constitutes the second stage of the Braidic operation, which 
Durand de Gros calls ideo-plastic. The idea becomes a 
determining cause of the functional modifications to be 
induced. The mental excitation reproduces the sensation 
previously induced by means of organic excitations. These 
sensations, which are originated by means of an idea, are 
called sensations of recollection." 



HYPNOTISM. 33 

It is quite natural for any man to prefer the evidence 
of his own senses to that of all others; no one who has 
the opportunity to examine the phenomena for himself 
should neglect to do so. However, there are some cir- 
cumstances which ought to be particularly borne in mind, 
or very erroneous opinion may be formed by the uninitiated, 
from what is actually witnessed. 

*' First. — There is a remarkable difference in the degree 
of susceptibility of different individuals to the hypnotic 
influence, some becoming rapidly and intensely affected; 
others slowly and feebly so. This is one, analogous to 
what we experience in regard to the effects of medicine 
on different individuals, and especially as regards wine 
and opium and nitrous oxide. Whilst this is a recognized 
fact, as regards the latter, it appears to me somewhat 
surprising to find many and even professional men too, 
who seem to expect as much uniformity ought to obtain, 
in regard to the Phenomena during hypnotism as if we 
were operating on inanimate matter. On the contrary, 
they ought to be ready to admit that a variety might be 
expected to arise even in the same individual, according 
to the physical and mental condition of the patient at the 
moment the operation is performed. 

"The next most important point for consideration is the 
fact of all the Phenomena being consecutive, we have thus 
the extremes of insensibility and exalted sensibility, of 
rigidity and mobility, at different stages, and these merging 
into each other by the most imperceptible gradations, or 
in the most abrupt manner, according to the mode of 
treating the patient. It is no unusual thing for different 
parties to be testing, or calling for tests, for the opposite 
conditions at the same instant of time. These, of course, 



34 HYPNOTISM. 

are incompatible, but at a certain stage, the transitions 
from torpor of all the senses and cataleptiform rigidity 
to the most exalted sensibility, and flaccidity of muscle, 
may be effected almost with the celerity of thought, even 
so slight a cause as a breath of air directed against the 
part. If left at rest, it will speedily merge back again, 
and thus those unacquainted with such peculiarities will 
be continually liable to think they discover discrepancies 
which, however, only originate from their imperfect 
knowledge of the subject; just as an unskilful manipulator 
will be ready to suppose from his different results that 
the observations of other chemists have been erroneous. 
"The third point meriting especial attention is the con- 
dition of the mind at different stages. As results from 
opium, so also from hypnotism. At one stage it gives 
an extraordinary power of concentration of thought, or 
disposition to rapt contemplation, whereas, at another stage 
the discursive or imaginative faculties are excited into 
full play, and thus the most expanded, bright and glowing 
scenes and images are presented to the fervid imagination. 
It must also be borne in mind that these opposite 
mental conditions may glide into each other by the most 
imperceptible degrees; or by the most abrupt transitions, 
according to the modes of management, and thus con- 
sciousness or unconsciousness, sound sleep, or somnambulism 
will result, according as sensations or ideas predominate. 
It appears quite evident that whatever images or mental 
emotions or thoughts have been excited in the mind during 
the nervous sleep are generally liable to recur, or be 
renovated or manifested when the patient is again placed 
under similar circumstances. I am induced to adopt this 
course from my anxiety to remove every possible source of 



1 



HYPNOTISM. 35 

error as to the cause of the original manifestations, and 
from the recollection of the remarkable circumstance of 
the woman who during natural somnambulism could repeat 
correctly portions of the Hebrew Bible, and other books 
in languages she had never studied, and was perfectly 
ignorant of when awake, but was at length discovered to 
have been acquired from hearing a clergyman with whom 
she had resided when a girl reading them aloud to himself; 
and also from patients whilst laboring under diseases 
remembering languages long forgotten. Then during the 
nervous sleep there is the power of exciting patients to 
manifest the passions and emotions, and certain mental 
faculties in a more striking manner than the same indi- 
viduals are capable of in the waking condition. No one 
can doubt who has seen much of these experiments, and 
it can in no way alter the importance of hypnotism as a 
curative power ^ and extraordinary means of co7itrolling a7id 
directing vienial fu7ictions in a particular manner by a 
simple association of impressions w^hether we thus act on 
the brain as a single organ or a combination of separate 
organs or whether the primary associations have origin- 
ated from the special organic connections, or from some 
accidental and unknown cause, or from preconcerted 
arrangement and arbitrary association." 

"The experiments that I have made," says Dr. Braid, 
' ' of having caused patients to hypnotize, manipulate, and 
rouse themselves (by simply desiring them to rub their 
own eyes), and which produced results precisely the same 
as when done by any one else, seem to me to be the most 
decisive proof possible that the whole result from the mind 
and body of the patients acting and reacting on each other, 
and that it has no dependence on any special influence 



36 HYPNOTISM. 

emanating from another. My first experiments on this 
point were instituted in the presence of some friends on the 
first day of May, 1843, and following days. I believe they 
were the first experiments of the kind which had ever been 
tried, and they have succeeded in every case in which I 
have operated." 

''Observation, having thus shown what the simple hyp- 
notic suggestion can perform in the healthy condition, it 
was natural to apply these qualities to pathological states, 
and to make use of the nervous activity concentrated by 
means of suggestion, in neutralizing morbid phenomena. 
It was natural to say to oneself — if, in a hypnotized 
subject, anaethesia, constructure, movements, pains, can 
be produced at will by an analogous mechanism, it ought 
to be possible in some cases to suppress anaethesia, con- 
tracture, or paralysis caused by disease, to increase the 
weakened muscular force, to modify favorably, or to restore 
the functional force perverted or diminished by the patho- 
logical condition, as far, of course, as the organic condition 
permits this restoration." 

"It would seem that an idea so simple as this would 
have forced itself upon the attention of the first physicians 
who learned to recognize suggestion. But it has been a 
long time coming to the front. As long as magnetic 
phenomena were considered the effect of a fluid acting 
upon the organism, it was to this fluid action that the 
cures were attributed. Magnetism, by its mysterious 
influence upon the vital principle, reestablished functional 
harmony ; it was beneficial like warmth, light, and 
electricity. ' ' 

Since Braid's time, the hypothesis of a magnetic fluid 
has had few adherents, hyponotic suggestion has replaced 



HYPNOTISM. 37 

magnetism. It is the subject's imagination alone, which 
rendered active, and causes all the phenomena. 

It is a singular thing that Braid, who was first to 
establish the doctrine of suggestion (caught sight of, for 
a moment by Bertrand) Upon firm foundation, thought no 
more of applying suggestion itself in its most natural 
ioxv[\— suggestion by speech — to bring about the hypnosis 
and the therapeutic effects. He induced sleep by fixation 
upon a brilliant object ; he brought about therapeutic 
efiects by means of special manipulation. 

The manipulations are based upon this fact, that the 
cataleptiform rigidity of a limb produces, according to 
Braid, an acceleration of the pulse, which becomes small. 
This acceleration of the pulse caused by the effort to 
hold the limbs stretched out for five minutes, is much 
greater in the hypnotic than in the normal condition. 
If the muscles are made to relax while the subject is still 
under the influence of the hypnosis, the pulse declines 
rapidly to its rate before the experiment, and even below 
it. 

This understood, Braid varies the manipulation accord- 
ing to the object in view. "In order to diminish," 
Braid says, ' ' the force of the circulation in a limb and 
reduce its sensibility, it is necessary to set the muscles 
of this limb in activity, leaving the other limbs relaxed. 
If we wish to increase the force and the sensibility of a 
limb, it must be kept relaxed and the other limbs must 
be put into catalepsy. If we wish to obtain a general 
depression, after one or two of the limbs have been 
extended for a short time, we must put them back care- 
fully into the normal position, and let the entire body 
rest. To obtain a general excitation, all the limbs should 



38 HYPNOTISM. 

be rendered cataleptic, whence arises difficulty in the free 
transmission of blood to them, and consequently an 
augmentation of the cardiac activity, rush of blood to 
the brain, and excitation of the nervous centres. ' , 

Further, in keeping a particular organ in action while 
the others are quiet, there is a considerable augmentation 
of its activity by concentration of its nervous energy in 
keeping the other organs in activity, and the one which is 
too active quiet, its activity is diminished. 

The following we give in Dr. Braid's own words, as 
found in his noted book, * ' Neurypnology. ' ' We feel the 
readers will better understand his method if given to them 
as he gave it to the public: 

"It will be observed I have now entirely separated 
Hypnotism from animal magnetism, I consider it to be 
merely a simple, speedy and certain mode of throwing 
the nervous system into a new condition, which may be 
rendered eminently available in the cure of certain dis- 
orders. I feel quite confident we have acquired in this 
process a valuable addition to our curative means, but I 
repudiate the idea of holding it up as a Universal Remedy; 
nor do I understand, as yet, the whole range of diseases in 
which it may be useful. 

"I am aware great prejudice has been raised against 
mesmerism from the idea that it might be turned to 
immoral purposes. In respect to the Neuro-Hypnotic 
state, induced by my methods (James Braid, M. R. C. S. 
E., C. M. W. S.), I am quite certain that it deserves no 
such censure. I have proved by experiments, both In 
public and in private, that during the state of excitement 
the judgment Is sufficiently active to make the patients, if 
possible, even more fastidious as regards propriety of 



HYPNOTISM. 39 

conduct than in the waking condition; and from the state 
of rigidity and insensibility, they can be roused to a state 
of mobihty and exalted sensibility either by being rudely 
handled or even by a breath of air. Nor is it requisite 
this should be done by the person who put them in the 
Hypnotic state. It will follow equally from the manipula- 
tions of any one else, or a current of air infringing against 
the body from any mechanical contrivance whatever. And, 
finally, the state cannot be induced in any stage, unless with 
the knowledge and consent of the party operated on. This 
is more than can be said respecting a great number of our 
most valuble medicines, for there are many of which we are 
in the daily habit of using with the best advantage in the 
relief and cure of disease, which may be and have been 
rendered^ most potent for the furtherance of the ends of the 
vicious and cruel, and which can be administered without 
the knowledge of the i?itended victim. It ought never to be 
lost sight of that there is the 2ise and abuse of everything 
in nature. It is the use and only the judicious use of 
hypnotism which I advocate." 

DEFINITION OF FORMS. 

* * Neurypnology is derived from the Greek words 
for Nerve Sleep, a Discourse; and means the nationale, or 
doctrine of nervous sleep, which I define to be a * peculiar 
condition of the nervous system, induced by a fixed and 
abstracted attention of the mental and visual eye, on one 
object, not of an exciting nature.' 

"By the term * Neuro-Hypnotism ' this is to be 
understood * nervous sleep,' and for the sake of brevity, 
suppressing the prefix ' Neuro ' by the terms as follows: 



40 HYPNOTISM. 

Hypnotic. — The state or condition of nervous sleep. 

Hypnotize. — To induce nervous sleep. 

Hypnotized. — One who has been put Into the state of 
nervous sleep. 

WxY^onisiA.— Nervous sleep. 

Dehypnotize.— To restore from the state or condition 
of nervous sleep. 

Dehypnotized. — Restored from the state or condition 
of nervous sleep. 

Hypnotist. — One who practices Neuro-Hypnotlsm. 

"I now proceed to detail the mode which I practice 
for inducing the Phenomena. Take any bright object, (I 
generally use my lancet case), between the thumb and fore 
and middle fingers of the left hand. Hold it from eight to 
fifteen inches from the eyes, at such position above the 
forehead as may be necessary to produce the greatest 
possible strain upon the eyes and eyelids, and enable the 
patient to maintain a steady fixed stare at the object. The 
patient must be made to understand that he is to keep the 
eyes steadily fixed on the object, and the mind riveted on 
the idea of that one object. 

"It will be observed that owing to the consensual 
adjustment of the eyes the pupils will be at first contracted, 
they will shortly begin to dilate, and after they have done 
so to a considerable extent, and have assumed a wavy 
motion, if the fore and middle fingers of the right hand 
extended and a little separated, are carried from the object 
toward the eyes, most probably the eyelids will close 
involuntarily, with a vibratory motion. If this is not the 
case, or the patient allows the eyeballs to move, desire him 
to begin anew, giving him to understand that he Is to allow 
the eyelids to close when the fingers are again carried 



HYPNOTISM, 41 

toward the eyes, but the eyeballs must be kept fixed in the 
same position, and the mind riveted to the one idea of the 
object held above the eyes. It will generally be found that 
the eyelids close with a vibratory motion, or become 
spasmodically closed. After ten or fifteen seconds have 
elapsed, by gently elevating the arms and legs it will be 
found that the patient has a disposition to retain them in 
the situation they have been placed, if he is inteiisely 
affected. If this is not the case, in a soft tone of voice 
desire him to retain the limbs in the extended position, and 
thus the pulse will speedily become greatly accelerated, and 
the limbs in process of time will become quite rigid and 
involuntarily fixed. It will also be found that all the organs 
of special sense, excepting sight, including heat and cold, 
and muscular motion and resistance, and certain mental 
faculties are at first prodigiously exalted, such as happens 
with regard to the primary efifects of opium or spirits. 
After a certain point, however, this exaltation of functions 
is followed by a state of depression far greater than the 
torpor of 7iatural sleep. By mere repose the senses will 
speedily merge into the original condition again. 

"From the state of the most profound torpor of the 
organs of special sense, and tonic rigidity of the muscles, 
they may at this stage instantly be restored to the opposite 
condition of extreme mobihty and exalted sensibility, by 
directing a current of air against the organ or organs we 
wish to excite to action, or the muscles we wish to render 
limber, and which had been in the cataleptiform state. 
An abrupt blow or pressure over the rigid muscle will 
de-hypnotize a rigid part, biit I have found that pressing 
the nose will not restore smell, unless very gentle and 
continued, nor will pressing a handkerchief against the 



42 HYPNOTISM. 

ear restore hearing when the ear has become torpid, nor 
will gentle friction over the skin restore sensibility to the 
dormant skin or mobility to the rigid muscles underneath 
(unless so gentle as to be titillation properly so called), 
and yet a slight puff of wind will instantly rouse the whole 
to abnormal sensibility and mobility, a fact which has 
perplexed and puzzled me exceedingly. 

*'At first I required the patients to look at an object until 
the eyeHds closed of themselves, involuntarily. I found, 
however, in many cases this was followed by pain in the 
globes of the eyes, and slight inflammation of the conjunc- 
tival membrane. In order to avoid this I now close the 
eyelids, when the impression on the pupil already referred 
to has taken place, because I find that the beneficial 
phenomena follow this method, provided that the eyeballs 
are kept fixed, and thus too, the unpleasant feelings in the 
globes of the eyes will be prevented. Were the object to 
produce astonishment in the person operated on, by finding 
himself unable to open his eyes, the former method is the 
better; as the eyes once closed it is generally impossible for 
him to open them, whereas they may be opened for a 
considerable time after being closed in the other mode I 
now recommend. However, for curative purposes, I prefer 
the plan which leaves no pain in the globes of the eyes. 

"I feel confident that the Phenomena are induced solely 
by an impression made on the nervous centres by the 
physical psychical condition of the patient, irrespective 
of any agency proceeding from or excited into action by 
another, as any one can hypnotize himself by attending 
strictly to the simple rules I lay down; and the following is 
a striking example of the fact which was communicated 
to me and two other gentlemen by a most respectable 



HYPNOTISM. 43 

teacher. He found that a number of his pupils had been in 
the habit of hypnotizing themselves, and he had ordered 
them to discontinue the practice. However, one day he 
ascertained a girl had hypnotized herself by looking at the 
wall, and that a companion had put a pen in her hand 
with which she had written the word "Manchester," and 
she held the pen very firmly— in fact the fingers were 
catileptiforml)/ rigid. He spoke to her in a very gentle 
tone of voice, and called her. She arose and advanced 
towards him, and when awake was not aware he had called 
her or of what had passed. A patient may be hynotized 
by keeping the eyes fixed in any direction. It occurs 
most slowly and feebly when the eyes are directed straight 
forward, and most rapidly and intensely when they can be 
maintained in the position of a double internal and upward 
squint. 

"It is very important to remark that the oftener the 
patients are hypnotized, from association of ideas and 
habit, the more susceptible they become ; and in this way 
they are liable to be affected entirely throngh the imagin- 
ation. Thus, if they consider or imagine there is something 
doing, although they do not see it, from which they are to 
be affected, they will become affected ; but on the contrary, 
the most expert hypnotist in the world may exert all his 
endeavors in vain if the party does not expect it, and 
mentally and bodily comply, and thus yield to it. 

" It is on this very principle of over exerting the attention 
by keeping it riveted on one subject or idea which is not 
of itself of an exciting ?iature, and over-exercising one set 
of muscles, and the state of the strained eyes, with the 
suppressed respiration, and general repose which attend 
such experiments, which excites in the brain and whole 



44 HYPNOTISM. 

nervous system that peculiar state which I call Hypnotism 
or Nervous Sleep. The most striking proofs that it is 
different from common sleep are the extraordinary effects 
produced by it. In deep abstraction of mind it is well 
known the individual becomes unconscious of surrounding 
objects, and in some cases of. severe bodily inflictions. 
During Hypnotism or Nervous Sleep, the functions in 
action seem to be so intensely active as must in a great 
measure rob the others of that degree of nervous energy 
necessary for exciting their sensibility. This alone may 
account for much of the dullness of common feeling during 
the abnormal quickness and extended range of action of 
certain other functions. 

'*I shall now point out the symptoms of danger, with the 
mode of arousing patients, and thus preventing mischief 
which might ensue for want of due caution in the operator. 
Whenever I observe breathing very much oppressed, the 
face greatly flushed, the rigidity excessive, or the action 
of the heart very quick and tumultuous, I instantly arouse 
the patient, which I have always readily and speedily 
succeeded in doing by a clap of the hands, an abrupt shock 
on the arm or leg, by striking them sharply with the flat 
hand, pressure and friction over the eyelids, and by a 
current of air wafted against the face. I have never failed 
by these means to restore my patients very speedily. 

* ' I feel convinced that Hypnotism is not only a valuable 
but also a perfectly safe remedy for many complaints, if 
judiciously used. Still it ought not to be trifled with by 
ignorant persons for the mere sake of gratifying idle 
curiosity. In all cases of apoplectic tendency, or where 
there is aneurism or serious organic disease of the heart, it 
ought not to be resorted to, excepting with the precaution 



HYPNOTISM. 45 

that it may be In the mode calculated to depress the force 
and frequency of the heart's action. 

"In passing into common or natural sleep, objects are 
perceived more and more faintly, the eyelids close and 
remain quiescent, and all the other organs of special 
sense become gradually blunted, and cease to convey 
their usual impressions to the brain, the limbs becorne 
flaccid from cessation of muscular tone and action, the 
pulse and respiration become slower, the pupils are 
turned upwards and inwards, and are contracted. — Miiller. 

"In the Hypnotic state induced with the view of 
exhibiting what I call the Hypnotic Phenomena, vision 
becomes more and more imperfect, the eyelids are closed, 
but have for a considerable time a vibratory motion, 
(in some few they are forcibly closed, as by spasm of the 
orbiculares) ; the organs of special sense, particularly of 
smell, touch, and hearing, heat and cold, and resistance, 
are greatly exalted, and afterwards become blunted, in a 
degree far beyond natural sleep ; the pupils are turned 
upwards and inwards, but contrary to what happens in 
Natural Sleep. They are greatly dilated,, and highly 
insensible to light; after a length of time the pupils 
become contracted, whilst the eyes are still insensible to 
light. The pulse and respiration are, at first, slower 
than is natural, but immediately, on calling muscles into 
action, a tendency to cataleptiform rigidity is assumed, 
with rapid pulse, and oppressed and quick breathing. 
The limbs are thus maintained in a state of tonic rigidity 
for any length of time I have yet thought it prudent to 
try, instead of that state of flaccidity induced by common 
or natural sleep ; and the most remarkable circumstance 
is this, that there seems to be no corresponding state 
of muscular exhaustion from such action. 



46 HYPNOTISM. 

"In passing into natural sleep, anything held in the 
hand is soon allowed to drop from our grasp, but in the 
artificial sleep now referred to, it will be held much more 
firmly than before falling asleep. This is a very remark- 
able difference. 

"The power of balancing themselves is so great that I 
have never seen one of these hypnotic somnambulists fall. 
The same is noted of natural somnambulists. This is a 
remarkable fact, and would appear to occur in this way, 
that they acquire the centre of gravity, as if by instinct, in 
the most natural, and therefore^ in the most graceful maimer ^ 
and if allowed to remain in this position they will speedily 
become cataleptiform and immovably fixed. From observ- 
ing these two facts, and the general tendency and taste for 
dancing displayed by most patients on hearing lively music 
during hypnotism, the peculiarly graceful and appropriate 
movement of many when thus excited, and the varied and 
elegant postures they may be made to assume by slight 
currents of air, and the faculty of retaining any position 
with so much ease, I have hazarded the opinion that the 
Greeks may have been indebted to Hypnotism for the 
perfection of their Sculpture, and the fakirs of India for 
their wonderful feats of suspending their bodies by a leg 
or an arm. 

"It thus clearly appears that it differs from common 
sleep in many respects, that there is first a state of 
excitement as with opium and wine, and spirits, and 
afterwards a state of corresponding deep depression or 
torpor. 

EFFECT OF HYPNOTISM. 

"The tactual sensibility is so great that the slightest 
touch is felt. The sense of heat, cold and resistance are 



HYPNOTISM. ' 47 

also exalted to that degre<^ as to enable the patient to feel 
anything 7vitlwut actual contact. In some cases, at a consid- 
erable distance, some will feel a breath of air from the 
lips, at the distance of 50 to 90 feet, and bend from it, 
and by making a back current, as by waving the hand, 
or a fan, will move in the opposite direction. The patient 
has a tendency to app7'oach tOy or recede from iuipj essions 
according as they are agreeable or disagreeable, either in 
quality or intensity. Thus they will approach to soft 
sounds, but they will recede from loud sounds, however 
harmonious. By allowing a little time to elapse, and the 
patient to be in a state of quietude, he will lapse into 
the opposite extreme of rigidity and torpor of all the 
senses, so that he will not hear the loudest noise, nor 
smell the most fragrant or pungent odor ; nor feel what is 
hot or cold, although not only approximated to but 
brought into contact with the skin. He may now be 
pricked or pinched or maimed, without exciting the 
slightest symptom of pain or sensibility, and the limbs will 
remain rigidly fixed. At this stage a puff of wind directed 
against any organ instantaneously rouses it to sensibility, 
and the rigid muscles to a state of mobility. Thus the 
patient may be unconscious of the loudest noise, but by 
simply causing a current of air to come against the ear a 
moderate noise will instantly be heard so intensely as to 
make the patient start and shiver violently, although the 
whole body had immediately before been rigidly catalepti- 
form. A rose, valerian, or strong ammonia may have 
been held close under the nostrils without being perceived, 
but a puff of wind directed against the nostrils will instantly 
arouse the sense so much that supposing the rose had been 
carried forty-six feet distant, the patient has instantly set 



48 HYPNOTISM. 

off in pursuit of it, and even whilst the eyes were bandag-ed, 
reached it as certainly as a dog traces out game ; but as 
respects valerian or ammonia, will rush from the unpleasant 
smell with great haste. The same with the sense of 
touch." 

CURATIVE POWERS OF HYPNOTISM. 
''Of all the circumstances connected with Hypnotic 
Sleep, nothing so strongly marks the difference between it 
and natural sleep as the wonderful power the former 
evinces in curing many diseases of long standing, and 
which had resisted natural sleep, and every known agency 
for years ; patients who have been born deaf and dumb, 
of various ages, up to thirty-two years of age, had con- 
tinued without the power of hearing sound until the time 
they were operated on by me, and yet they were enabled 
to do so by being kept in the hypnotic state for eight, ten 
or twelve months, and have had their hearing still further 
improved by a repetition of similar operations. Now 
supposing these patients to have spent six hours out of 
twenty-four in sleep, many of them had had five, six or 
eight years of continuous sleep, but still awoke as they lay 
down, incapable of hearing sound, and yet they had some 
degrees of it communicated to them by a few minutes 
of Hypnotism. Can any stronger proof be wanted or 
adduced than this, that it is very different from common 
sleep. A lady, fifty-four years of age, had been suffering 
for sixteen years from incipient amarosis. When she called 
on me she could with difficulty read two words of the 
largest heading of a newspaper. After eight minutes' 
hypnotic sleep, however, she could read the other words, 
and in three minutes more the whole of the smaller heading, 



HYPNOTISM. 49 

and the same afternoon, with the aid of her glasses, she 
read the ii8th Psalm, 29 verses, in the small Diamond 
Polyglot Bible, which for years had been a sealed book to 
her. There has also been a most remarkable improvement 
in this lady's general health since she was hypnotized. 
Is there any individual who can fail to see in this case 
something different from common sleep? Whilst I feel 
assured from personal experience and the testimony of 
professional friends on whose judgment and candor I can 
implicitly rely, that in this we have acquired an important 
curative agency for a certai?i class of diseases, I desire 
it to be distinctly understood that I by no means wish 
to hold it up as a universal remedy. I believe it is 
capable of doing great good, if judiciously applied. Dis- 
eases evince totally different pathological conditions, and 
the treatment ought to be varied accordingly. We have, 
therefore, no right to expect to find a universal remedy 
either in this or any other method of treatment." 

From the foregoing you can readily see that Dr. 
Braid proved Hypnotism to contain great virtue, mainly 
to be used as a curative power. Since his discovery, the 
medical world has from time to time made researches, 
which always prove the same ; but, a science so simple, 
yet, so hard to explain to the ordinary mind, gains 
firm ground slowly, thus, year after year has passed 
by, without Hypnotism becoming popular among doctors 
and patients. In fact, not until the year i860, did any 
physician dream of applying hypnotism for diseases the 
same as he applied medicine. Then, Dr. Li^bault took 
up the study where Dr. Braid had left off. So great has 
been his achievements, that to-day all the scientific world 
wonders. To him, too much credit cannot be given, as 



50 HYPNOTISM. 

it is through his patient efforts that the medical world, 
at last, acknowledges the power of this great science 
Hypnotism, as you will see further on. 



HYPNOTISM. 51 



CHAPTER III. 

HYPNOTISM. 

The School of Nancy — The Nine Degrees of Hypnotism — The 
Theory of Hypnotism as advanced by Dr. Li^bault, the founder 
of the Nancy School — The discovery of " Suggestion," showing 
how it has helped the Science of Hypnotism to advance in the 
Medical World. 

Monsieur Li6bault was born September 17th, 1823, at 
Favieres, a village about thirty miles from Nancy, in the 
department of Meurthe, France. In 1866 Dr. Liebault 
founded the School of Nancy. At the outset, the opinions 
he held were received with incredulity. ' * His practice 
appeared so strange that the doctors dismissed it without 
inquiry, and Dr. Liebault kept entirely aloof from the 
medical profession, absorbed in his studies and devoting 
himself to his patients, mostly recruited from among the 
poor class. ' ' — Bernheim. 

Since then, time has progressed and hypnotism has 
advanced. Dr. Liebault is now well known. France 
claims him as one of her celebrities, and all he says and 
writes is accepted. Success has not changed him, his 
innate modesty will not, unfortunately, permit our offering 
his likeness to the reader, for he refuses to be photo- 
graphed, saying that "photographs of cHnics or doctors 
do not add to the value and reputation of a school." 



52 HYPNOTISM. 

Dr. Liebault's pupils have revealed him to the world of 
science; it is they who have quoted him, and by their 
own authority have enforced him on the public attention. 
Among the most distinguished are : Professor Liegeois 
of the Faculty of Law, who loudly expresses his regret 
that his master's book is too dear, and therefore not 
sufficiently popularized : and Professors Bernheim and 
Beaunis, both eminent physiologists of the Faculty of 
Medicine. 

The theory of the Nancy school is, that the different 
physiological conditions characterizing the hypnotic state 
are determined by mental action alone; that the phenomena 
can best be produced in persons of sound physical health 
and perfect mental balance; and that this mental action 
and the consequent physical and psychological phenomena 
are the result, in all cases, of some form of suggestion. 

The Nancy school of hypnotism is entitled to the 
credit of having made the most important discovery in 
psychological science. The fact that the subjective mind 
is constantly amenable to control by the power of sugges- 
tion, constitutes the grand principle in psychological 
science which, when properly appreciated and applied, 
will solve every problem and illuminate every obscurity 
in the labyrinthian science of the human soul, so far as it 
will ever be possible for finite intelligence to penetrate it. 
It is safe to say, that in all the broad realm of psycho- 
logical science, there is not a phenomenon upon which it 
will not shed light. It is no discredit to say that its leaders 
and teachers do not yet seem to comprehend the profound 
significance of their discovery — as yet, this vast find — is 
only understood in its rudimentary forms. 

The Nancy school produces all its phenomena by oral 



HYPNO TISM. 53 

suggestio7i, and ignores the fact that the sleep can be 
produced in the absence of any form of suggestion. It 
repudiates Braid's method of inducing it as 2innecessary , 
and also as injurious, in that the physical disturbance of 
the nerve centres unduly excites the patient. 

The Nancy school attributes all the phenomena, includ- 
ing the induction of the state, to the power of suggestion^ 
and that it is to the psychic powers and attributes of man 
alone that we must look for an explanation. Thus the 
Nancy school, true to its theory, employs suggestion alone 
to induce the condition. Passes are sometimes made over 
its subjects after the manner of the mesmerists, but only 
with a view of giving an air of mystery to the proceedings, 
and thus adding potency to the suggestion. 

As for the therapeutic suggestions and their efficacy, 
they by no means imply the abolition of will; the subject 
wishes to be cured, lends himself to the idea, and aided by 
his own imagination is oftentimes successfully cured. 

We have often heard it said, "that hypnotism is 
dangerous to the patient;" we wish to state here, that 
such is not the case. All the faults that can be found 
with hypnotism can be found with drugs, and itiany more. 
Dr. Liebault, who has used hypnotism therapeutically in 
France for about thirty-three, years, has watched cases 
for a long time without finding bad consequences. 

Among the many objections raised to suggestive 
therapeutics is the assertion that the patients do not 
retain any lasting improvement, and few real cures are 
proved. Doctor Moll, answers the above as follows : 

"The results are by no means transitory; on the 
contrary, a large number of lasting cures have been observed 
and published. I have seen many cases where there was 



54 HYPNOTISM. 

no relapse for years. One cannot ask for more. I have 
known patients to be cured for years, and die from 
another disease. The objection that the improvement 
may be only temporary is thus not justified. But; even 
were this so, we must still rejoice to have found a way 
of procuring even temporary relief. For instance, in 
difficulties of menstruation, it is a great thing if we can 
succeed in subduing pain for a time. If the pain returns 
a new hypnosis may be induced; it is always to be had, 
and as it generally becomes deeper the more it is used, 
it is less likely to lose its effect, (even in relapses) than 
drugs which often do so quickly. In any case, therapeutics 
are not yet so far advanced, as to give us the right to reject 
a remedy merely because it only effects symptoms or has 
often merely a temporary value. If, we doctors were to 
reject remedies which suppress the phenomena of disease 
for a time only, we might abandon a large part of 
therapeutics, perhaps the whole. Besides, from some 
methods of treatment nothing but a temporary improve- 
ment is expected, and yet this temporary improvement 
is considered to prove the value of the method. Remedies 
should nut be weighed and measured by different 
standards." 

Perhaps it would be well for the reader at this stage 
to become acquainted with the different degrees of 
hypnotism, and as no better classifications can be found 
than those given by Dr. Bernheim in his book "Sugges- 
tive Therapeutics," which has been translated by Christian 
A. Herter, M. D. If you want to own or read this book 
(which perhaps is the best publication on Hypnotism to be 
found translated into English), we can send it to you by 
registered mail, price $3.75. It is a large, handsome book 



HYPNOTISM. 55 

of some four hundred pages closely printed. It is a book 
every one interested in hypnotism should own. 

Dr. Bernheim was a professor of medicine in the faculty 
at Nancy. This work has won for himi well deserved 
renov/n everywhere, and his honesty and truthfulness 
would not be questioned by any reliable medical authority 
in the civilized world. 

"First Degree. — The patient does not exhibit cat- 
alepsy, anaesthesia, hallucination, nor sleep, properly 
so-called. He says he has not slept, or that he has been 
only more or less drowsy. If sleep is suggested to him, 
he is content to remain with his eyes closed. He must 
7iot be dared to open his eyes, however, because then he 
opens them. The influence obtained may appear as naught 
or as doubtful, yet it exists; because if neither sleep, 
catalepsy, nor any other manifestations may be provoked, 
suggestibility can nevertheless assert itself through other 
influences. For example, a suggestion of heat on a deter- 
mined part of the body may be induced, certain pains may 
be destroyed, and evident therapeutic effects may be 
obtained. ' 

"I have succeeded in some cases, to all appearance 
refractory, in inducing all the regular manifestations of 
hypnotism, by suggestions, causing pains of a muscular 
or inveterate nervous character to disappear— evident 
proof that suggestibility exists for certain organic 
activities. 

"Second Degree. — The patient has the same appear- 
ance as in the preceding degree and presents the same 
negative symptoms. If sleep is suggested, he remains 
with his eyes closed without really sleeping, or is only 
drowsy; but he differs from the subject of the preceding 



56 HYPNOTISM. 

degree, in that he cannot open his eyes spontaneously 
if he is dared to do so. Here the influence is evident." 

** Third Degree. — The patient is susceptible to sug- 
gestive catalepsy whether the eyes are open or shut, and 
whether he is drowsy or wakeful. As we have already 
stated, this catalepsy varies in intensity. In the degree of 
which we are speaking, the patient retains the position 
induced or suggested, unless challenged to alter it. If he 
is challenged, he regains consciousness, so to speak, and 
succeeds in changing his position by an effort of the will. 
To a superficial observer, the influence may appear 
doubtful, but this is no longer the case, if upon repeating 
the experiment, it is shown that the patient keeps his 
passive position from inertia, so long as his dormant will 
is not roused. 

"Fourth Degree. — In this degree, the suggestive 
catalepsy is more pronounced and resists all efforts on 
the part of the subject to break it. The influence is 
evident. The subject may be convinced that he is 
influenced by showing him that he cannot alter the 
position induced. 

"Besides this, suggestive catalepsy and automatic 
rotatory movement in the upper extremities may some- 
times be induced, which may continue for a long time. 
In some cases this motion is obtained by simply commun- 
icating the impulse. In others, catalepsy, some patients 
succeed in checking the motion by an effort of the will 
if they are dared to do so; others do not succeed in spite 
of all effort. 

"Fifth Degree. — In addition to the cataleptic form 
condition, accompanied or unaccompanied by automatic 
movements, contractures varying in degree may be 



HYPNOTISM. 57 

induced by suggestion. The patient is dared to bend his 
arm, to open his hand, to open or shut his mouth, and he 
cannot do it. 

"Sixth Degree. — The patient exhibits, moreover, a 
more or less marked docihty, or automatic obedience. 
Though inert and passive if left to himself, he rises at a 
suggestion, walks, stands still if ordered, and remains fixed 
to a spot when told that he cannot advance. 

"As in the preceding degrees, he is susceptible neither 
to sensorial illusions nor to hallucination. 

"The subject in these different categories remembers 
everything upon waking. Some, however, are conscious 
of having slept : They remain inert, passive, without 
spontaneity and without initiative. This is the case to 
such a degree, that they cannot be roused from their 
torpid state until the intellectual initiative regains the 
upper hand, and they come out of the condition spon- 
taneously. Some do not know whether they have really 
slept, and others positively state that they have not been 
asleep. But in cases included under the last three degrees, 
the patients can be convinced that, if they have not slept, 
they have been at least influenced. 

"Between a perfectly conscious condition and deep 
sleep all transitions exist. It is certain that in many 
subjects belonging to these different categories, intelligence 
and sensibility remain active during hypnosis. Others 
have only certain symptoms of the sleep; the lack of 
initiative, inertia, sensation of drowsiness and the closed 
eyelids, or their minds reacting to the operator whom they 
answer and obey, seem uninfluenced by other people 
whom they do not appear to hear, and to whose questions 
they give no answer. 



58 HYPNOTISM. 

"It Is often difficult to penetrate the psychical con- 
dition of the subject hypnotized. Observation requires 
nicety, and analysis is subtle. Some cases are doubtful, 
simulation is possible and easy, and it is still easier to 
believe in simulation where it does not exist. Certain 
subjects, for example, keep their eyes closed while the 
operator is hypnotizing them. When he ceases -to look at 
them their eyes open, and close quickly when he again 
fixes his gaze upon them. There is every appearance of 
deceit. The assistants believe it a fraud. They pity the 
operator's naive credulity and think the subject is deceitful, 
or that he is acting to oblige the operator. 

"This occurs daily in the presence of my pupils. I 
show them, however, that the subject is not deceiving 
me, and that I am not imposed upon, by hypnotizing 
him again, and inducing catalepsy or contracture out of 
which I challenge him to come, requesting him at the 
same time, not to think of obliging anyone. 

"This tendency which certain subjects have to open 
their eyes again, and come out of their inertia as soon 
as the operator ceases to influence and watch them, this 
apparent pretending which is especially frequent in children, 
exists even in certain somnambulists, and one would swear 
that deception had been practised in these cases. Never- 
theless, the subject remembers nothing upon waking." 

"The majority of patients, however, remain with eyes 
closed for some time, apparently or actually asleep. They 
only open their eyes after the influence has worn off or 
when they are told to awake." Considering these facts, 
I cannot repeat too often that the hypnotized subject is 
not a lifeless corpse or a body in a state of lethargy, for 
even though he is inert he hears, is conscious, and shows 



HYPNOTISM, 59 

signs of life. We may see him laugh or try to smother 
a laugh. He may remark upon his condition. He some- 
times pretends that he is cheating or that he is trying to 
be obliging. Behind the doctor's back, he boasts in 
good faith that he has not been sleeping, but has only 
pretended to sleep. He is not always aware that he is 
unable to pretend, and that his disposition to oblige is 
forced upon him, and is due to a weakening of his will 
or of his power of resistance. The majority, however, 
finally become aware of this want of power. They feel 
that they are influenced. * They are conscious of having 
slept even when memory is preserved upon waking. 

*'In the degrees of which I shall now speak, there is 
no longer any uncertainty as to the hypnotic influence, 
for there is amnesia upon waking, which is sometimes 
complete, sometimes partial. 

"The subject remembers imperfectly. He knows that 
he has heard voices, but does not know what has been 
said. He recalls some things. Other incidents of his 
hypnotic life are obliterated. These degrees of hypnotism 
in which memory is destroyed upon waking, we call 
somnambulism. In certain cases, somnambuHsm last only 
during particular moments of the hypnosis. Here there 
is sleep ; if by sleep we mean that condition of the mind 
which leaves behind it forgetfulness of all that has occurred 
during its existence. It is in this somnambulistic condition 
that we find subjects susceptible to hallucination, analgesia, 
and suggestions of acts. Suggestibility here reaches its 
highest development. There are many variations however 
in this condition. 

"Seventh Degree. — Cases in which there is amnesia 
upon waking but in which hallucinations cannot be 



6o HYPNOTISM. 

induced, I consider as belonging to this degree. Almost 
all somnambulistic subjects in this degree are susceptible to 
catalepsy, contractions, automatic movements and automatic 
obedience. One or the other of these phenomena, however, 
may be wanting. Sometimes all are absent, but this is 
exceptional, as we have said. Amnesia upon waking is 
the only symptom characteristic of somnambulism. The 
eyes may be open or shut in this as in the following 
condition. 

"Eighth Degree. — There is amnesia upon waking as 
well as a great number of the phenomena observed in the 
preceding degrees. Susceptibility to hallucination during 
sleep is increased, but post-hypnotic hallucinations cannot 
be induced. 

** Ninth Degree. — Amnesia upon waking, with the 
possibility of inducing hypnotic and post-hypnotic 
hallucinations. 

*' These hallucinations are more or less complete and 
distinct. They may succeed with certain senses, for 
example the olfactory and auditary, but not with others, as 
the visual. In many cases all the most complex hallucina- 
tions are perfectly carried out. Many more phases could 
be mentioned according to the power of mental represen- 
tation which in each subject calls forth images with greater 
or less clearness and vividness. 

"More or less complete suggestive anaesthesia or 
analgesia may be met with in all degrees of hypnotism. 
It is generally more frequent and more pronounced in 
instances of the degrees last mentioned ; those in which 
there is deep somnambulism and where there is great 
aptitude for hallucinations. 

"By stating the fjcts in this way, I believe I came 



HYPNOTISM. 6 1 

nearer the truth. Hypnotism manifests itself in different 
subjects in different ways. There may be simply drowsi- 
ness, or other induced sensations, as heat, prickling, 
cold, etc. This is the lightest influe?ice. We have more 
marked effects when suggestion affects motility ; develops 
the cataleptic condition, the inability to move, contraction 
and automatic movements. It is still more decided when 
it affects the will and causes automatic obedience. All 
these manifestations of motion, will, and even sensibility can 
be affected by suggestion with or without sleep, and even 
when it is powerless to induce sleep. In a more intense 
degree, suggestion produces sleep or an illusion of sleep. 
The subject convinced that he is sleeping, does not 
remember anything upon waking. In general, the more 
advanced degrees of suggestion affect the sensorial and 
sensory spheres— memory and imagination. Illusions may 
be created and destroyed, and the imagination may call 
forth the most varied memory pictures. 

' * I insist upon the fact that all or some of these 
suggestions may be realized with or without sleep. Other 
suggestions may succeed where that of sleep itself remains 
useless, for the sleep is also nothing but a suggestion. 
It is not possible in all cases, and it is not necessary in 
cases of good somnambulism in order to obtain the most 
diverse phenomena. They can be dissociated, so to speak, 
from sleep. Catalepsy, paralysis, anaesthesia, and the 
most complex hallucination may be realized in many 
cases without the necessity of preceding these phenomena 
by sleep. Susceptibility to suggestion occurs in the 
waking state. 

"To define hypnotism as induced sleep is to give a 
too narrow meaning to the word — to overlook the many 



62 HYPNOTISM. 

phenomena which suggestion can bring about Independ- 
ently of sleep. I define hypnotism as the induction of a 
peculiar psychical condition which increases the suscepti- 
blHty to suggestion. Often, it is true, the sleep that may 
be induced facilitates suggestion, but it is not the necessary 
preliminary. It is suggestion that rules hypnotism." 

** I have tried to show that suggested sleep differs in no 
respect from natural sleep. The same phenomena of 
suggestion can be obtained in natural sleep, if one succeeds 
in putting one's self into relationship with the sleeping 
person without waking him. 

*'This new idea which I propose concerning the 
hypnotic influence, this wider definition given to the word 
hypnotism, permits us to include in the same class of 
phenomena all the various methods which, acting upon 
imagination, induce the psychical condition of exalted 
susceptibility to suggestion with or without sleep. ' ' 

Later on, when speaking of the subject of hypnotic 
fascination, you will see how the above can be appHed to 
the patient. 

The following table made from a considerable number 
of cases and presented to M. Dumont by M. Liebault, 
gives an idea of the proportion of patients of all ages, of 
both sexes, and of all temperaments, subdivided into the 
different categories of sleep. 



Year 1880, 


1012 


persons 


hypnotized 


Refractory, 


- 


- 


27 


Somnolence, heaviness, 


- 


- 


33 


Light sleep. 


- 


- 


100 


Deep Sleep, 


- 


- 


460 


Very Deep Sleep, 


- 


- 


- 230 


Light Somnambulism, 


- 


- 


31 


Deep Somnambulism, 




•• " 


- 131 



'HYPNOTISM, 63 

"It is doubtless necessary to take account of the fact 
that M. Liebault operates chiefly upon the conunon people 
who come to him to be hypnotized — to be cured of 
disease — and who, convinced of his magnetic power show 
greater cerebral docility than more intelligent people. 
Perhaps, the number of cases influenced would be less 
without these favorable and predisposing conditions. I 
have been able to prove, however, that refractory subjects 
constitute a small minority, and I succeed in hypnotizing 
subjects at the first trial, daily, who come to my oflice 
with no idea what the hypnotic sleep is. 

Persons who can be hypnotized, and who, when they 
wake, have no recollection of what has happened during 
sleep, we call somnambulists. It seems to us that this 
proportion may be considerably increased if the sleeping 
subject is told, "When you wake, you will remember 
nothing. " In a certain number of cases, amnesia is thus 
produced by suggestion. 

Success in mental and physical healing depends upon 
proper conditions. This is a self-evident proposition, 
which the average healer is slow to understand and 
appreciate. 

The success of the physician depends as largely upon 
his knowledge of the idiosyncrasies of his patient, his 
personal habits, his mode of living, his susceptibility to 
the influence of medicine, etc. , as upon a correct diagnosis 
and medicinal treatment of the disease. In like manner j. 
the success of the mental healer depends largely upon i 
his knowledge of his patient's habit? of thought, his beliefs, 'J 
his prejudices, and above all, his mental environment. 

These remarks apply to all methods of mental healing, 
no matter by what name the science is called, whether by 
mental suggestion as distinguished from oral suggestion. 



64 HYPNOTISM. 

Hypnotism as practiced by the Nancy school may 
stand as the representative of mental treatment of disease 
by purely oral suggestion. 

It must be remembered that much harm is done to the 
cause of mental healing, or in other words to hypnotism, 
by claiming for it too wide a field of usefulness. (^ Theor- 
etically, all the diseases which flesh is heir to are curable 
by mental processes. \ Practically, the range of its useful- 
ness is comparatively limited. The lines of its field are 
not clearly defined, however, for the reason that so much 
depends on the idiosyncrasies of each individual patient. 
A disease which can be entirely cured with hypnotism 
in one case refuses to yield one jot in another, the mental 
attitudes of the patients not being the same. Besides, 
the mental environment of the patient has much to do 
with his amenability to control by mental processes. In an 
atmosphere of incredulity, doubt and prejudice, a patient 
stands little chance of being benefited by hypnotism ; 
however strong may be his own faith in mental thera- 
peutics. Every doubt existing in the minds of those 
surrounding him is inevitably conveyed telepathically to 
his subjective mind, and operates as an adverse sugges- 
tion of irresistible potentiality. It requires a very strong 
will, perfect faith, and constant affirmative auto-suggestion 
on the part of the patient to overcome the adverse 
influence of an environment of incredulity and doubt, 
even though no word of that doubt is expressed in the 
presence of the patient. It goes without saying that it 
is next to impossible for a sick person to possess the 
necessary mental force to overcome such adverse condition. 
Therefore, it is easily- seen, how necessary it is for both 
patient and hypnotizer to be in perfect accord with one 



Hypnotism. 



6; 



another, and also, that discording persons should not be 
present when a patient is to be hypnotized. 

Suggestion is the sole method employed by the Nancy 
school of hypnotism. The hypnotic condition is induced 
solely by oral suggestion, and the disease is removed by 
the same means. There can be no doubt of the efficacy of 
the method, thousands of successful experiments have 
been made by Dr. Liebault and his colleagues. These 
experiments have demonstrated the existence of a power in 
man to control, by mental processes, the functions and 
conditions of the human body. They have laid the foun- 
dation of a system of mental therapeutics, which must 
eventually prove of great value to mankind, or as Thomson 
Jay Hudson, LL.D., says in his book, "The Law of 
Psychic Phenomena": ''They have done more. They 
have demonstrated a principle which reaches out far 
beyond the realm of therapeutics, and covers all the vast 
field of psychological researches. They have demonstrated 
the constant amenability of the subjective mind to control 
by the power of suggestion. 

"It is not surprising that those who have discovered 
this great principle should insist upon its appHcability to 
every phenomenon within range of their investigation." 

Remember that the Nancy school believes in the power 
of suggestion, but confines its faith to Oral Suggestion 
only. 



66 HYPNOTISM, 



CHAPTER IV. 

HYPNOTISM. 

Dr. Li^bault of Nancy — Description of his treatment and the 
method employed at the School at Nancy — His system free 
from Mysticism — Curative Suggestion, as applied by Dr. Lie- 
bault — Absolute sleep or unconsciousness unnecessary for 
curative treatment — Different stages of Hypnotism, as known 
at the Nancy Schooh 

The compiler feels indebted for the following remarks 
to C. Lloyd Tuckey, M. D., of England, writer of the 
very valuable book, "Psycho Therapeutics." This book 
is published in London, England, and we had great 
difficulty in obtaining a copy. 

" If the visitor to Dr. Liebault's Dispensary be one 
who measures results by the impressiveness of the means 
used, he will surely be disappointed to find how common 
place are operators, patients, and building. The rooms 
are unpretentious, and even shabby; the patients are 
ordinary looking people enough, belonging mostly to the 
artisan and laboring classes ; and the Doctor, himself, 
though he has goodness and kindliness written on every 
feature of his unimposing appearance, and chats on all 
sorts of subjects with the persons around him. 

"The patient paying his first visit is directed to sit 
down and watch the treatment being applied to others. 




Fig. (I.) The Suggestive Method, 
Orlgiaal Portraits. Copyright by M. Young, August, 1899. 



HYPNOTISM. 67 

This gives him confidence, and arouses that imitative 
faculty which is so active in childhood, and is never lost 
throughout adult Hfe. When his turn comes he is told to 
take his place in an arm chair, and to make his mind as 
blank as possible— to think of nothing — nothing at all — and 
to fix his eyes and attention on some special object; almost 
anything will do, from the operator's face or hand to a 
mark on the ceihng or the pattern of the carpet." 

" Then the Phenomena, or in other words the hypnotic 
sleep, which attend the on-coming of natural sleep are 
gradually 'suggested' to him." 

" Your sight is growing dim and indistinct; your eyelids 
are becoming heavy ; a numbness is creeping over your limbs; 
my voice seems muffled to you; you are getting inore sleepy; you 
can 7iot keep your eyes open. Here the eyes close of them- 
selves or are closed by the operator, and it is generally 
found that the patient is indeed asleep. 

"About two minutes of this 'Talk and Sleep' will 
usually produce the hypnotic effect on a new patient, and 
on subsequent visits even less time is required. The patient 
being more or less influenced. Dr. I.iebault now proceeds 
with the treatment proper. This consists essentially in 
directing the invalid's attention to the part affected, and 
suggesting an amelioration or disappearance of the morbid 
condition and symptoms. 

"To take a very simple case —let us suppose that the 
malady is chronic nervous headache. The part of the 
head affected is generally rubbed, so that the patient's 
attention shall be attracted to it, and he is told that the 
pain is to disappear — that he will awake feeling his head 
cool, clear and comfortable, and that there is to be no 
return of the trouble. In ordinary cases, the whole process 



68 HYPNOTISM. 

will not have lasted more than five minutes, when Dr. 
Liebault brings it to a close by arousing the patient, which 
he does by telling him to open his eyes and awake. This 
is generally enough; he awakes as from ordinary sleep, and 
is told to vacate the arm chair in favor of the next patient. 
When asked how he feels, he will generally reply that 
he is better, and very often that the pain has entirely 
vanished. He is quite his natural self, and can leave the 
room at once and go about his employment as usual. 

"Long acquaintance with the system prevents an 
inhabitant of Nancy from regarding it as anything 
remarkable, and a sick person consults Dr. Liebault 
just as he would consult any other physician, with the 
simple idea that the treatment will do him good. He 
does not trouble himself with metaphysical theories, but 
is content to know that some acquaintance has been cured 
of a complaint similar to his own, and that he himself 
hopes to be relieveci in a few days. Dr. Liebault gen- 
erally places his hand over the epigastrium, and applies 
gentle friction, suggesting as he does so, a sensation of 
warmth. He regards a responsive glow as almost essential 
to the success of subsequent treatment, and it is the first 
link in the chain which constitutes rapport between Physician 
and Patiejit. 

'•The fulfillment of the first suggestion tends to 
augment the patient's confidence, and leads to the more 
ready reception of those which follow. This point is one 
of great practical importance, and we generally feel we 
can do good when we can induce this responsive warmth, 
no matter how slight the hypnotic influence may be. 
The feeling is quite different to that produced by simple 
friction, and requires to be felt to be appreciated. The 



HYPNOTISM. 69. 

magnetizers attributed it to the passage of magnetic fluid 
from them to the patient, but as we regard all the 
manifestations of hypnotism as subjective, we must of 
course seek another explanation. This is found by sup- 
posing that the sensation is due to action on the vaso 
motor system through the solar plexus, allowing a sudden 
afflux to the part. If the hypnotic sleep has been pro- 
found, it may be necessary twice or thrice to repeat the 
ordel" to awake, and even to enforce it by fanning the 
patient, or blowing gently upon his eyes, but the simple 
command is nearly always sufficient. 

There certainly is nothing mysterious in all this, and 
Dr. Liebault seems to take pleasure in making his whole 
mode of treatment clear to any serious inquirer, and in 
giving the rational explanation of everything that he 
does. He directs the patient to fix his attention on a 
certain point, in order to strain the accommodation of 
the eyes, and to tire the sight. The effect of the strain 
is to cause dilation of the pupils, and consequent dimness 
of the vision. The feeling of heaviness in the eyelids 
results from the fatigue of keeping them open in a strained 
'position, and the assertion that the eyes are becoming 
tired, and the sight dim, is therefore founded on physio- 
logical data, and is not guess work. The eyes being tired, 
the natural impulse is to close them, and this act calls 
up a previous association of ideas connected with fatigued 
or confused sight. That association points to sleep, 
towards which the patient is rapidly led, aided by the 
monotonous tones of the operator suggesting it to him, 
and by his mind being free from all disturbing thoughts, 
and his nerves from all external stimuli. He falls asleep 
in fact, much in the same manner as one does when 



70 HYPNOTISM. 

reading a dull book, or listening to an uninteresting 
lecture. The naturally restless sleeper will be restless, 
and he who commonly goes off as soon as his head 
touches the pillow will quickly succumb to the hypnotic 
influence. The extent to which a person is influenced 
varies according to his mental and physical condition. 

' ' Bernheim defines Hypnotism as the production of a 
psychical conditio)! in which the faculty of receiving impres- 
sions by suggestion is greatly increased. But this is only half 
the truth; for not only is the receptivity increased, but 
the power to act upon and carry out the suggestion is 
increased likewise. Suggestions have all the force of 
commands^ and the patient will strain every nerve to obey 
them. They are received as true, and the idea tends to be 
realized, and to be carried into execution as action. If he 
is told to move a paralized limb, or to speak after months 
of loss of voice, any one can see what intense effort he puts 
into the attempt to comply. A stammerer making such 
effort will speak fluently, and a deaf person will distinctly 
hear a whisper. 

"The suggestive method is especially applicable to 
chronic complaints ; rheumatic and gouty pains often yield 
to it. In derangement of the functions in women it acts 
very beneficially, both in checking excessive loss and in 
promoting a proper flow ; also in relieving or curing 
periodic suffering of all kinds. In chronic constipation and 
diarrhoea it has excellent effects, and patients usually find 
that they are becoming regular through its use. Nervous 
affections of the eyes, some forms of deafness, the sick, 
and those reduced in strength, are exceptionally good 
subjects for hypnotic suggestion, and therefore offer a very 
favorable field for its employment. 



HYPNOTISM. 71 

"Dr. Liebault strongly recommends the treatment for 
sprains and muscular strains. In such cases it may be com- 
bined with gentle massage of the injured part. Insomnia 
and hysteria are benefited by the treatment. That border 
land of insanity occupied by the opium habit, and the 
excessive use of tobacco and other narcotics, offers an 
extensive field of usefulness to suggestive treatment. 
Persons whose nervous systems are broken down in this 
way are very easily hypnotized, and Dr. Liebault puts 
such a patient in profound sleep, and then tells him that he 
was to give up smoking and chewing, that a pipe was to be 
to him an object of loathing, and a quid of tobacco even 
more offensive. Also if he did indulge in one or the other 
pain and severe sickness would be the result, so that he 
must not even feel a desire for the indulgence. The patients 
come daily for several mornings, and daily show an increas- 
ing improvement, till in a week they are completely cured 
of the symptoms of nicotine poisoning. 

"Cures worked by suggestion are of as permanent a 
character as cures effected by any other means. Relapses 
occur in many diseases, no matter what treatment has 
been employed. 

"At first some patients will perhaps appear insuscep 
tible. This must not cause discouragement, for in many 
cases the hypnotic influence is not felt until after three 
or more trials. Patients should always be thoroughly 
awakened before leaving the person hypnotizing them. 
This should never be forgotteti. 

"The practitioner who uses hypnotism should do so 
with the same precautions which he adopts in administering 
an anaesthetic. Chief among these, are obtaining the 
formal consent of the patient, and when expedient, of 



72 HYPNOTISM. 

his friends, and never operating save in the presence of at 
least one witness. Thus, he will guard himself and his 
patient from all possible imputation of wrong doing or 
abuse of power. 

"The dangers of hypnotism, are, I believe, much 
exaggerated. The stories told of persons obtaining undue 
influence over others by its means are mostly fables, 
which experience shows to be impossible. Professor 
Bernheim asserts, and is borne out by other observers, 
that 710 one can be hypnotized against his wish, and in 
fact, it is his own will which sends him to sleep. Never- 
theless, there is no doubt that after a time the on-coming 
of sleep is less under the patient's control, and when a 
person is continually being hypnotized by the same 
operator, the hypnotic state can be reproduced with 
surprising readiness. 

"With our present knowledge, it seems impossible 
to explain certain phenomena connected with advanced 
hypnotism. The subject, will, under the simulation 
of suggestion, read figures or letters at an amazing 
distance, will distinguish persons by a sense of touch too 
delicate to exist when the other faculties are at work. 
Why should the hypnotized subject be deaf to all sounds 
except the voice of the operator, and hear and obey that 
voice, though it be the faintest whisper, and the surround- 
ing sounds a perfect Babel? 

"The Reality of Hypnotic Phenomena. — Sceptics 
we find who entirely deny the existence of the hypnotic 
state, also others who acknowledge the reality of the 
psychical condition, refuse to believe in its utility as a 
remedial agent. The former are a diminishing quantity, 
and must soon succumb under the accumulating evidence 



HYPNOTISM. 73 

adduced by such scientists as Charcot, Richet, Hack 
Tuke, Moll, Heidenhain, Krafft-Ebing, Preyer, Beaunis, 
Lombroso, Myers and others." 

The work of such practical observers and clinicians 
as Bernheim and Liebault of Nancy, Voisin, Berillon, 
Dumontpallier of Paris, Von Schrenk-Notzing of Munich, 
Van Reuterghein and Van Eden of Amsterdam, Albert 
Moll of Berlin, Wetterstrand of Stockholm, Cruise 
of Dublin, etc., will soon supply the necessary therapeutic 
testimony, if indeed it has not already done so, and we 
shall see Hypnotic Suggestion take its place in the armamen- 
tarium of the medical practitioner. 

" The method I usually adopt to produce the hypnotic 
state is that practiced by Liebault, and is undoubtedly the 
easiest and most rapid. The treatment is psychical, and 
the attention to detail is absolutely necessary to success. 
The existence in the patient of any opposing idea, as of fear 
or of a spirit of ridicule, or of decided hostility, or of con- 
sciousness of bodily discomfort, will render futile all 
attempts to hypnotize him, at least at the first trial. His 
mind must be at rest, his position comfortable, and the 
environment should be such as would favor the advent 
of ordinary sleep." 

"It is sometimes well to hypnotize one or two patients 
in the presence of a new-comer, so as to arouse his 
invitative faculty and dissipate any nervous feeling he may 
have. And sofne friend should always be p7'esent during the 
entire operation^ 

' ' The patient reclines on a couch or easy chair, and I 
stand or sit beside him, and hold the first two fingers of one 
hand at a distance of about twelve inches from his eyes, at 
such an angle that his gaze shall be directed upwards in a 



74 HYPNOTISM. 

strained manner. I direct him to look steadily at the tips 
of those fingers, and to make his mind as nearly blank as 
possible. After he has stared fixedly for about half a 
minute, his expression will undergo a change— a far away 
look coming into his face. His pupils will contract and 
dilate several times, and his eyelids will twitch spasmodi- 
cally. These signs indicate a commencing in direction 
of the desired psychical condition. If the eyelids do not 
close spontaneously, I shut them gently, and the progress 
of sleep is generally helped by verbal suggestion such as 
'Your eyes are becoming very heavy; they are getting 
more and more heavy ; my fingers seem quite indistinct 
to you (this v/hen the pupils are observed to dilate or 
contract); a numbness is stealing over your limbs; you will 
be fast asleep in a few minutes; now sleep.' " 

"It is sometimes an assistance to lay one's hand 
gently, but firmly, on the forehead. In ordinary cases, 
the operator will find that the hypnotic condition has by 
this method been induced in from one to three minutes, 
and he may now ascertain what degree has been arrived at. 
This depends chiefly, if not entirely, on the temperment 
of the subject, and I consider it impossible to foretell 
with any certainty what stage of hypnotism will be reached 
by any person who has never been hypnotized. I do 
not, as a rule, make many suggestions at a first sitting, 
but I gently rub the epigastrium, and suggest a feeling 
of warmth in that part of the body, a general sensation 
of comfort and well being, and an agreeable awakening. 
After a few minutes I tell the patient to awake, he has 
rested long enough, and that he can open his eyes and 
arouse himself He generally obeys at once, and says he 
feels refreshed and comfortable. I ask him what he 



I 



HYPNOTISM. 75 

remembers of his few minutes rest, and he generally tells 
me he has heard every word I said to him, and also any 
other sound there may have been, but he adds he felt a 
great disinclination to move or speak until he was told to 
open his eyes. He finds the feeling of warmth induced by 
suggestion, and by gentle friction of the abdomen, very 
marked, and the sensation will probably continue for several 
hours. He is perfectly awake and quite himself before he 
leaves the house." 

The feeling of warmth is an important symptom, and 
Dr. Liebault is invariably confident of doing good to the 
patient in whom he can produce it if the malady is a 
tractable one. 

Dr. Liebault also believes in the efficacy of magnetized 
water as a curative means, that is, water into which the 
practitioner has dipped his fingers ; the water to be 
applied to the diseased parts. When Dr. Liebault first 
noticed the influence this liquid had upon young children 
of a few weeks or a few months old, he — the adept and 
apostle of the theory of suggestion — {^1 his convictions 
shaken. He began to doubt whether suggestion was 
indeed the final expression of hypnotism, and whether 
the fluid theory ought to be definitively set aside. 

Dr. Liebault also freely admits the fact that a specific 
influence is sometimes exerted by the mesmerizers or 
hypnotizer upon the subject, which does not arise from 
oral suggestion. 

Professor Beaunis has also expressed somewhat similar 
doubts. 

Professor Bernheim, however, clings to his own system, 
which the whole scientific world acknowledges he does 
wonders with. 



76 HYPNOTISM. 

However, suggestion has developed hypnotism, and no 
matter what the future adds to the science, suggestion will 
always hold an important place in the curative qualities 
of hypnotism. 

There is nothing to differentiate hypnotic sleep from 
natural sleep. Startling as this proposition may appear 
to the superficial observer, it is fully concurred in both by 
Dr. Liebault and Professor B"ernheim. 

''There is no fundamental difference," says the latter, 
"between spontaneous and induced sleep." M. Liebault 
has very wisely established this fact. The spontaneous 
sleeper is in relationship with himself alone, the idea 
which occupies his mind just before going to sleep, the 
impressions which the sensitive and sensorial nerves of the 
periphery* continue to transmit to the brain, and the stimuli 
coming from the viscera becomes the point of departure for 
the incoherent images and impressions which constitute 
dreams. 

Have those who deny the psychical phenomena of 
hypnotism, or who only admit them in cases of diseased 
nervous temperament, ever reflected upon what occurs 
in normal sleep, in which the best balanced mind is 
carried by the current, in which the faculties are dissociated, 
in which the most singular ideas and the most fantastic 
conception obtrude? Poor human reason is carried away, 
the proudest mind yields to hallucinations, and during 
this sleep — that is to say, during a quarter of its exist- 
ence — becomes the plaything of the dreams which 
imagination calls forth. 

In. induced sleep, the subject's mind retains the ' 
memory of the person who has put him to sleep, whence 
the hypnotizer's power of playing upon his imagination, 



HYPNOTISM. ■ 77 

of suggesting dreams, and of directing the acts which are 
no longer controlled by the weakened or absent will. 

It is obvious therefore, that the subjective mind is 
amenable to control by suggestion during natural sleep, 
just the same as it is during hypnotic, or induced sleep. 
It might not be unprofitable in this connection to enter 
into a general inquiry as to how far It would be possible 
to control our dreams by auto-suggestion, and thus 
obviate the discomforts incident to unpleasant nocturnal 
hallucination. But we have not space for such an 
inquiry. 

Dr. Liebault says: "Hypnotism, like natural sleep, 
exalts the imaginations, and the brain is more susceptible 
to suggestions. The strongest minds cannot escape from 
hallucinatory suggestions of their dreams. It is a physio- 
logical law that sleep puts the brain into such a psychical 
condition that the imagination accepts and recognizes 
as real the impressions transmitted to it. To provoke 
this special psychical condition by means of hypnotism, and 
to cultivate the suggestibility thus artificially increased, 
with the aim of cure or relief, this is the role of psycho- 
therapeutics as used at the Nancy School." 

This is a case that demonstrates the power of hypnotism 
over muscular rheumatism, as quoted by Dr. Bernheim: 

*' A child was brought in with a pain, which pain dated 
back four days, muscular rheumatism in the right arm; 
the arm was painful to pressure. The child could not lift 
It to its head. I said to him, ' Shut your eyes and go to 
sleep.' I held his eyelids closed, and talked to him. * You 
are asleep, and you will keep on sleeping until I wake you 
up. You are sleeping very well as if you were in bed. You 
are perfectly well and comfortable. Your arms and legs 



78 HYPNOTISM. 

and whole body are asleep, and you cannot move.* I took 
my fingers off his eyelids and they remained so. Then 
touching the painful arm I said: ' The pain has gone away. 
You will have no more pain; and when you wake up you 
will not feel any more pain. It will not come back any 
more.' In order to increase the force of suggestion by 
embodying it, so to speak, in a material sensation, I 
suggest a feeling of warmth — Loco-dole nti. The heat took 
the place of the pain. I said to the child, ' You feel that 
your arm is very warm; the warmth increases, and you 
have no pain.' I woke the child in a few minutes; he 
remembered nothing. The sleep had been profound. The 
pain had almost completely disappeared. The child lifted 
the arm easily to his head. I saw the father on the days 
following and he told me that the pain had disappeared 
completely, and there was no return of it." 

''In such cases as the above sometimes, the pain 
persists, or is simply diminished; it may gradually dis- 
appear after two or more treatments. In other cases it 
may be diminished when the subject awakes, and may 
continue growing less until it disappears without a new 
hypnotlzation. If not, a new suggestion may succeed, 
especially if a deeper sleep can be Induced. {^For absolute 
sleep or unconsciousness is much more successful in curing 
than a light hypnotic sleep). The pain taken away for 
the moment may return in several hours or even days, 
and may only yield definitely after a variable number 
of hypnotlzations. 

"Finally, only certain troubles or complaints maybe 
effected. Others resist the attempt. We can understand 
that the effect obtained is subordinate both to the subject's 
suggestibiHty and to the psychical cause which determines 



HYPNOTISM. 79 

the symptoms. Muscular pains, the painful points i:i 
phthisis certain dynamic contractures, even though bound 
up with organic affections of the nervous centre, certain 
movements which remain after chorea, incontinence of 
urine from which children suffer at night, etc., often 
disappear as if by enchantment, after a single suggestion 
or after several." 

The mode of suggestion should be varied and adapted 
to the special suggestibility of the subject. * ' A simple 
word does not always impress the idea upon the mind," 
says Dr. Liebault. *'It is sometimes necessary to reason, 
to prove, to convince; in some cases to affirm decidedly; 
in others to insinuate gently; for in the condition of sleep, 
just as in the waking condition, the moral individuality 
of each subject persists according to his character, his 
inclinations, his special impressionability, etc." 

Hypnosis does not run ali subjects into a uniform 
mould, and make pure and simple automatons out of 
them, moved solely by the will of the hypnotist ; it 
increases the cerebral docility ; it makes the automatic 
activity preponderate over the will. But the latter persists 
to a certain degree, the subject thinks, reasons, discusses, 
accepts more readily than in the waking condition, but 
does not always accept, especially in the light degrees 
of sleep. In these cases, we must know the patient's 
character, his particular psychical condition, in order to 
make an impression upon him. 

Therapeutic suggestions is not infallible, though it 
gives good results in a large number of cases. It may 
even fail when it is intelligently and persistently managed. 
The cause of failure is inherent sometimes in the disease, 
sometimes in the subject. 



8o HYPNO TISM. 

No scientific hypnotist adheres rigidly to any one 
method. He finds that where it is the brain that is 
most intimately concerned, the idiosyncrasies and character 
of each subject must be studied and a method chosen which 
seems most likely to take effect. In all the difference 
of details, there is one main principle now recognized by 
the whole body of scientific hypnotists, and this is the 
Nancy method of Suggestion. 

Suggestion influences common sensations in the same 
way as the functions of the organs of sense. Nothing 
worthy of remark takes place in hypnosis with regard to 
this, unless suggestion is called into play. 

Dr. Moll says, " Suggestion plays a very important part 
in hypnotism. We can influence common sensation very 
materially by suggestion in hypnosis. This is not surpris- 
ing when we consider that it is exactly the common 
sensations which are most under the influence of mental 
processes. Just as looking down from a tower causes 
giddiness, as the thought of repugnant food produces 
disgust, so we can call up these, and related phenomena, 
or cause them to disappear. It is in this direction that 
suggestion has to record its most striking successes, since 
the common sensations, oi which, pain is one, are the cause 
of most of the complaints we hear. As pain, etc., can be 
induced by suggestion, so by suggestion it can often be 
banished. I say to a subject who complains of want 
of appetite, * The loss of appetite has disappeared, you are 
hungry.' I can cause another to feel thirst. Feelings 
of pleasure can Hkewlse be excited. 

" Debove, on the other hand, has induced loss of 
appetite by suggestion, to such an extent and for so long a 
time that the person concerned took no regular meal for 



HYPNOTISM. 8 1 

fourteen days. Further, it is possible up to a certain point 
to satisfy the hunger and thirst of subjects in deep hypnosis 
by merely suggested food and drink, as Fillasier informs 
us. It is a pity, however, that this result can only be 
obtained with a few persons, and in a c^jrtain measure; for 
otherwise our politicians would no longer need to puzzle 
their heads over social questions and the feeding of the 
masses." 

To define hypnotism as induced sleep, is to give a 
too narrow meaning to the word — to overlook the many 
phenomena which suggestion can bring about independently 
of sleep. I define hypnotism as the induction of a peculiar 
psychical condition which increases the susceptibility to 
suggestion. Often, it is true, the sleep that may be 
induced facilitates suggestion, but it is not the necessary 
preliminary. It is suggestion that rules hypnotism. 

The following study of hypnosis, we find in Professor 
Bernheim's book, "Suggestive Therapeutics." It shows 
the phenomena and manifestations of hypnosis. 

"Sometimes the eyes close suddenly before anything 
has been said, and the subject falls a lifeless mass. 
Sometimes sleep comes gradually. In some cases the 
eyelids remain motionless when closed. In others they 
quiver as long as the hypnosis lasts. In light sleep, the 
eye-balls retain their normal position. When the sleep 
is deep, they are often rolled up and the pupils are 
hidden under the upper eyelid. 

"Sometimes neryous subjects have muscular twitching 
of the limbs and fibrillary contraction of the face while 
asleep. The majority, however, are inert, or become so 
after suggestion. Some subjects make reflex movements, 
scratch themselves, for example, rub their hands together 



82 HYPNOTISM. 

and change their position. Others, on the contrary, 
remain perfectly quiet." 

''SensibiHty in its different forms, is more or less 
modified. It is preserved in light sleep. Tickling, the 
prick of a pin, or the touching of a painful spot, causes 
reflex movements, and the subjects wake." 

"In deep sleep, sensibility is diminished, or totally 
destroyed. According to M. Liebault, it first disappears 
in the extremities, and the periphery of the body is 
always the most anaesthetic part. Further examinations 
of the organ of sensation show that the senses of sight 
and taste are the first to become dull. The sense of 
smell comes next, while hearing and touch are the last 
to be lost. The visual sense loses its function last when 
the methods of the hypnotizers are employed, (fixation 
on some objects as, for instance, the operator's fingers 
or eyes) because the forced attention of the eyes compels 
them to remain active the latest. 

''If the anaesthesia or deep sleep is complete, a pin 
may be stuck into the skin, electricity may be applied, 
objects may be pushed up into the nostrils, ammonia 
may be held under the nose and the subject will not 
even wince. This complete anaesthesia may be spontane- 
ously developed by simple hypnotization. 

"In other subjects it is not spontaneous, but may be 
induced more or less perfectly by suggestion. Sometimes 
— in fact, in many cases — anaesthesia occurs only through 
suggestion. And often only a certain degree of anaes- 
thesia can be induced by suggestion. 

" In a certain number of cases then the hypnotic insen- 
sibility is complete enough to enable the most difficult 
surgical operations to be performed. But this is not true 



HYPNOTISM. 83 

of the majority of cases. Hypnotism cannot be generally 
used as an anaesthetic in surgery; it cannot take the place 
of chloroform. Moreover, the hypnotic condition is often 
hindered by the subject's anxiety at the time of an 
operation. 

" Changes in mobility are more usually and more easily 
induced than changes in sensibility. All hypnotic subjects 
excepting those of the first degree, are susceptible to 
suggestive catalepsy. 

'* We have seen that this phenomenon is manifested in 
different ways, according to the manner and degree of the 
susceptibility to suggestion. The mind executes the 
suggestion with more or less contraction or contracture. 
Sometimes the catalepsy is flabby, and the upraised limb 
falls at the least pressure. Sometimes the catalepsy is 
firmer without being rigid — wax-like rigidity. The Hmbs 
yield to any motion communicated to them. Sometimes it 
is true, rigid catalepsy, which I shall call tetanic catalepsy. 
As soon as the patient is asleep, I lift his arms and legs 
without speaking. They remain fixed as if tetanized in the 
attitude communicated. This rigidity is generally much 
greater in the upper than in the lower limbs. In some few 
cases the whole body may be thus made immovable, and 
tetanized to such an extent that the head may be put on 
one chair and the feet on the other, and the body pressed 
against without the contracture being overcome. 

"Suggestion alone always succeeds in destroying this 
tetanic condition. I say, ' I can lower your arm and 
move it as I wish.' The rigidity then vanishes. 

"I repeat that in the majority of subjects hypnotized, 
it is not necessary to formulate the suggestion in order- 
to induce catalepsy in the limbs. The psychical condition- 



84 hypnotism: 

is such that all ideas received by the brain are imprinted 
there, and any attitude communicated to a limb is main- 
tained. The position given to the limb by the operator 
is accepted by the patient's brain Hke an imagined 
suggestion. There is not enough cerebral initiative to 
modify the induced muscular condition spontaneously. 

"A deeper degree of hypnosis seems to be required 
for the production of automatic movements than for 
simple catalepsy. In many cases, however, these move- 
ments are induced either at first or at one of the following 
hypnotizations. Both arms are lifted horizontally and 
rotated one above the other. The patient keeps on moving 
them spontaneously or in obedience to commaad. Some 
subjects move them in a hesitating way, betraying a 
useless endeavor to stop them. Others, sleep more 
deeply, turn their arms quickly, regularly, and automatic- 
ally. I say, ' Do all you can to stop them.' Some can 
make no effort, others try, but are unable to stop this 
perpetual movement, which dominates what remains 
of their will. If I stop one hand, the other keeps on 
turning alone. An automatic movement of the legs may 
also be induced, but this is much less frequent. 

"In some cases of very deep sleep, these automatic 
movements occur through imitation. I stand in front of the 
patient and turn my arms one above the other. The 
subject imitates me. I make the movement in the opposite 
direction ; he does the same. I put my finger to my 
nose; he imitates me. I stand on one leg; he stands on 
one leg also. I stamp my foot on the floor ; he does 
likev/ise. The movement I make suggests to his mind 
the idea of the same movement. 

"We must add, a subject who has been hypnotized 



^ HYPNOTISM. 85 

and subjected to these experiments several times, executes 
them more promptly and more perfectly. Sometimes it 
is sufficient to lift both arms horizontally. He suspects 
what is wanted, and turns them one about the other. 
It is enough to close his hand lightly, and he contracts 
it with irresistible force. In some cases, the contracture 
is so great that the hand can hardly be opened again 
when the order is given to open it. 

"Suggestion induces paralysis as well as contracture. 
I tell a patient that his arm is paralyzed. If I lift it, it falls 
motionless, while the other arm, which I have not 
paralyzed by suggestion, remains up in a cataleptic 
condition. In some cases, the suggestion disappears 
quickly, the subject forgets it in a few minutes, in others it 
lasts a long time. 

" Each subject carries out a suggestion as he conceives 
it, as he interprets it. In hypnotism the subject's condition 
is such that the idea suggested imposes itself with greater 
or less force upon the mind, and induces the corresponding 
action by means of a kind of cerebral automatism. The 
phenomena arise apart from the operator's will, if by 
gesture or by touch, interpreted by the subject's mind, he 
manifests a desire which the subject cannot resist. The 
subject's movements, induced by a certain sensorial impres- 
sion, are instinctive and automatic. The patient's brain 
directs the movement naturally indicated by this attitude. 

"The subject more deeply influenced by hypnotism, 
passes into a condition known as somnambulism. Then 
new phenomena appear. The automatism is complete. 
The human organism has become almost a machine, 
obedient to the operators will. I say rise, and he rises. 
One subject gels up very quickly, another obeys slowly, 



86 HYPNOTISM. 

the machine is lazy, the command must be repeated in 
an authoritative voice. I say ' walk ' ; he walks. ' Sit 
down,' and he sits down. 

''Somnambulists can write, work, play the piano, and 
converse among themselves. Seeing them act thus, their 
eyes shut, or open as in waking condition, one would 
swear they were not asleep. ' When left to themselves, 
they are generally passive and inert, but they become 
active and move about under the influence of suggestion. 

" I wish to call attention to one of the most interesting 
phenomena of somnambulism. I wish to speak of the 
possibility of inducing In somnambulists, by means of 
suggestions, acts, illusions of the senses, and hallucinations 
which shall not be manifested during the sleeping condition, 
but upon waking. The patient hears what I tell him In 
his sleep but no memory of what I said remains. He 
no longer knows that I spoke to him. The idea suggested 
arises in his mind when he wakes, but has forgotten Its 
origin, and believes It is spontaneous. Facts of this kind 
have been observed by A. Bertrand, Gen. Noiset, Dr. 
Liebault and Charles Richet. 

''The effect of the suggestion of post-hypnotic acts is 
not absolutely Inevitable. Some patients resist them. The 
desire to carry out the act is no doubt more or less 
imperative, but they resist It to a certain extent. It Is also 
strange that suggested actions may be carried out not only 
during the time Immediately following the sleep, but after a 
greater or less interval. If a somnambulist is made to 
promise during his sleep that he will come back on such 
and such a day, at such and such an hour, he will almost 
surely return on the day and at the hour, although he has 
no remembrance of his promise when he wakes up. 



HYPNOTISM. 87 

"Thus, a suggestion given during sleep may lie 
dormant in the brain, and not return to consciousness 
until the time previously fixed upon for his appearance. 
Further research is necessary to explain this curious 
psychological fact, and to determine how long a hypnotic 
suggestion may thus remain latent. It goes without 
saying, that all somnambulists are not susceptible to 
suggestions which take effect after a long interval of 
time. 

"I have spoken of suggestions which give rise to 
acts. I proceed to consider sensitive — sensorial sugges- 
tions. Illusions of the senses and sensation may be 
suggested in the majority of somnambulistic cases. I 
say, ' When you wake, you will experience a numbness 
in your foot, or a cramp in your leg, a short pain in 
your tooth, or an itching of the scalp.' These different 
sensations appear in all or almost all cases of deep 
sleep. 

' ' In certain cases, a negative hallucination may be 
suggested during sleep. This succeeds only in cases 
of very deep somnambulism." Says Dr. Liebault, " I have 
made a hypnotized subject see a person or a thing which 
was not before his eyes, by means of a suggestion given in 
the hypnotic or in the waking condition. I have created 
an image called forth by his mind. I have caused a visual 
hallucination." 

However singular, however inexplicable may be the 
suggestive phenomena, which are realized to be true after, 
long study, one cannot but still wonder, and often ask, 
where this science will lead to ; for all thoughtful men 
acknowledge that it is yet in its infancy? 



88 HYPNOTISM. 



CHAPTER V. 



HYPNOTISM. 



M. Charcot experiments at La Salpetriere — Dr. Burq's discovery — 
The method used at La Salpetriere — Hysteria and Hypnotism 
closely combined, says M. Charcot — Neurosis theory has many 
followers. 

In 1878, Charcot began his experiments at the 
Salpetriere. It was in a strange manner, that he became 
interested in the science, that he has added so much to. 
It came about in the following way : 

Doctor Dumontpallier, physician at the hospital of 
the Hotel-Dieu, and President of the first International 
Congress on Hypnotism, held in 1889, gives the following 
account of the first researches which lent an impetus to 
the new science. 

''In 1876, a man who thought himself dying, wrote 
to the great physiologist, Claud Bernard, saying that he 
would like to ascertain before he died whether he had 
deceived himself about certain facts that had been under 
his observation for the last twenty-five years. Claud 
Bernard, who was President of the Biological Society, 
considered that the request was suggested by a very 
creditable and justifiable sentiment, and at once acceded 
to the demand. A commission was named, composed 



HYPNOTISM. 89 

of Messieurs Charcot and Luys, with Dumontpallier as 
reporter. After a series of experiments which extended 
over more than a year, they confirmed the Metalo- 
Therapeutic theory discovered by Dr. Burq.'* 

This discovery was made in the following way. While 
practising as a young doctor, he had one day been obliged 
to go out, and had deemed it advisable to lock up a patient 
in his absence. Just as he was leaving the house he heard 
the sound as of a body suddenly falling. He hurried back 
into the room and found his patient in a state of catalepsy. 
M. Burq was at that time studying magnetism, and he at 
once sought for the cause of this phenomenon. He noticed 
that the door-handle was of copper. The next day he 
wrapped a glove around the handle, again shut the patient 
in and this time nothing occurred. He interrogated the 
patient, but she could give no explanation. He then tried 
the effect of copper on the subjects at La Salpetriere, and 
found that a number were affected by it. 

He Was thus able to restore sensitiveness to some who 
had been deprived of it for many months. At the Sal- 
petriere the female patients were employed at needlework, 
and Burq gave them copper thimbles. Then he heard by 
chance that one of the patients who used a steel thimble 
had recovered her sensitivety. From that day metaloscopy 
was established, and Burq experimentalized with different 
metals, and found out their different action. 

Magnetism had led to this important discovery, and 
the authentication of it recalled to mind the forgotten 
theories of Braid. 

*' Dr. Dumontpallier who recognizes in Burq a conscien- 
tious and intelligent inquirer, cojQsiders him the promoter — 
perhaps unconsciously so— of the revival of hypnotism. 



go HYPNOTISM. 

Burq, however, held his peace. The mere mention 
of magnetism would have deprived him of his patients, and 
probably have doomed his discovery. He had already 
learned this to his cost, for at the outset he had been 
scoffed at and derided, and had very nearly been turned 
out of the hospitals." 

Thus the discovery was made quietly and partly by 
accident. 

The experiments were renewed at La Salpetriere, 
and Charcot was led to adopt Burq's theory by the 
following circumstance. 

"One day as he was going his rounds at the hospital, 
he received the visit of several English doctors, who, 
in the course of a discussion insisted on the great 
difference that existed in neurotic diseases in England 
and France. 

"Anaesthesia, more especially, they urged, presented 
the greatest differences. The eminent doctor, in order to 
demonstrate his argument, suddenly pricked the arm 
of an habitually insensible patient. But to his intense 
surprise the patient screamed with pain, at which the 
English medical men exchanged glances of undisguised 
satisfaction. Charcot, anxious to clear up the mystery, 
if mystery there was, made a thorough examination, 
and discovered that Buiq had played the harmless 
joke of applying a gold plate to the patient's arm, 
and thereby restored the sensibility which for some 
years past had disappeared. Charcot then seriously joined 
in the labors of the commission on metalo-therapy, and 
was soon convinced like the others of its truth." 

Thus, in 1878, Professor Charcot and his pupils 
began a series of experiments, and started a new scientific 



HYPNOTISM. 91 

movement which continues to the present day. The 
enthusiasm evoked by Dr. Charcot for the new ideas has 
not diminished; the impulse came from too great an 
authority. 

Monsieur Charcot was fortunate enough to rehabiH- 
tate hypnotism. His lectures at the Salpetriere have 
also greatly contributed to rally physicians to the cause 
of hypnotism. 

Since 1882, the study of hypnotism has been closely 
followed up in Paris, France, and numerous experiments 
have been made at La Salpetriere. 

The following are the principal doctors and writers on 
the subject, who are connected at the Salpetriere: 

Charcot and his pupils, Binet and Fere, Gilles de la 
Tourette and Babinski. 

Perhaps the predomirience of the School of the Sal- 
petriere is due to the fact that its chief is a member of the 
Institute (Academy of Science section). This learned 
body is justly considered as the origi7i of knowledge^ the 
vivifying artery from which it flows; it is not therefore very 
surprising that once hypnotism has been admitted — in the 
person of its chief exponent — within its precincts, its exist- 
ence and effects should have been acknowledged. 

It is also the Salpetriere School that first had the idea 
of classifying the different phases of hypnotic sleep into the 
lethargic, cataleptic and somnambulistic stages. 

M. Charcot found that catalepsy with anaesthesia could 
be produced by fixing the gaze upon a bright light. He 
also produced somnambuHsm from lethargy by rubbing the 
top of the patient's head. 

The various theories have finally become sifted down 
to the Neurosis theory of La Salpetriere school, which 



92 



HYPNOTISM. 



is the one supported by M. Charcot, and the theory 
of the school of Nancy, which is suggesHo?i, and the 
contest between these two schools is still going on, 
and probably will for some years to come, or until 
all the world can agree upon Hypnotism. 

We find many physicians of great scientific attain- 
ment using it successfully for the cure of disease. 

Leading psychologists and physiologists in every 
civilized country in the world are studying it. Only 
a very few persons deny its existence. Still the public 
is ignorant of the real nature of hypnotism —as also 
are many scientific men. It certainly, yet retains many 
unsolved secrets which it invites the scholar to unravel. 

''The La Salpetriere school, ignores suggestion as 
a necessary factor either in the induction of the hypnotic 
state, or in the production of subsequent phenomena, 
and seeks an explanation of the subject-matter on the 
basis of physiology and cerebral anatomy. 

* ' The La Salpetriere school employs physical means 
to induce the state of hypnotism almost exclusively. 
They are practically the same as those employed by 
Braid, namely, causing the subject to gaze steadily at 
a bright object, although many variations of the method 
have been introduced, such as flashing an electric light 
in the eyes of the subject, striking a gong without 
warning close to the patient's ears, or by some periphecal 
excitation, such as rubbing the scalp. 

The La Salpetriere school holds that hypnotism is 
the result of an abnormal or diseased condition of the 
nerves ; that a great number of the phenomena can be 
produced independently of suggestion in any form; that 
the true hypnotic condition can be produced only in 



HYPNOTISM, 93 

persons whose nerves are diseased ; and that the whole 
subject is explicable on the basis of cerebral anatomy 
of physiology. 

The experiments that Dr. Charcot made at the 
Salpetriere were made almost exclusively upon hysterical 
women, and that is very likely the reason why that 
school believes hypnotism to be a nervous disease, and 
that the disease is found in its most pronounced form 
in hysterical subjects. That this proposition is unqualifiedly 
wrong is positively known to every student of hypnotism 
outside La Salpetriere school, and needs no further 
refutation than the bare statement that the experience 
of all other schools goes to demonstrate the fact that 
the best hypnotic subjects are perfectly healthy persons. 
However, it is well known that Dr. Charcot has by 
his cures done an immense amount of good, as the 
number he treated run up into thousands, and many 
were entirely cured, while all were relieved by his 
method of treatment, and no doctor can do more. 

Of course the doctors at La Salpetriere are aware 
of the potency of suggestion when purposely and 
and intelligently employed ; but they hold that very 
many of the most important of the phenomena can be 
produced without its aid. These, however, are principally 
physical effects, such as causing any mue-:cle of the 
body to contract by pressing upon the corresponding 
nerve, and then releasing the tension by exciting the 
antagonistic muscle. The condition necessary for the 
production of this phenomenon is called by Charcot, 
" neuro-muscular hyper-excitability." In the able and 
interesting work by Binet and Fere, pupils of Charcot, 
a chapter is devoted to this branch of the subject. 



94 HYPNOTISM. 

They record, with a scientific exactitude that is very 
edifying, many curious results in the way of causing 
contracture of various muscles by kneading, pressure, 
percussion, etc., releasing the tension by exciting the 
opposing muscles, and transferring the contractures from 
one muscle to another by the magnet. These contractures 
can be easily produced in many hysterical patients in 
their waking state, either by kneading the muscles by 
pressure on the nerves, or by striking the tendons. 

In the book, " Law of Psychic Phenomena," by 
Thomson Jay Hudson, LL.D., a long and interesting 
treatise is given on the methods and their differences 
of the two schools. La Salpetriere and Nancy. We have 
not the space to give it here. Price of this book is 
$2.50 by mail. 

The phenomena which can be produced independ- 
ently of suggestion are purely physical, and depend 
upon the physical condition of neuro-muscula hyper- 
excitability. That this is true is shown by the fact 
that the physical phenomena produced by Charcot upon 
his hysterical patients cannot be produced on healthy 
subjects without the aid of suggestion. But such 
experiments do not properly belong to the domain of 
psychic science proper, but rather to the Braidian system 
of physical manipulation. This is as much as professed 
by Binet and Fere, when they divulge the fact that 
the physical phenomena in question can be produced 
on hysterical patients in their waking condition. 

The methods of the Charcot school are esssentially 
Braidian, and hence its results are limited largely to 
physical phenomena, and its conclusions necessarily 
pertain to psychical science. You will see that the method 



HYPNOTISM, 95 

employed by Charcot to induce the state is almost exclu- 
sively physical means. They are practically the same as 
those employed by Braid. 

' * Dr. Charcot begins his experiments with a young 
woman about twenty. He requests her to seat herself on a 
chair near the window through which the clear light of day 
is shining. He hands her a large brass or copper button 
to hold, telling her to look at it fixedly. After two or three 
minutes her eyelids fall ; she tries in vain to open her eyes 
which are fast closed ; her hand which until now has 
grasped the button drops upon her knee. All the while 
Dr. Charcot stands near the window looking steadily at the 
patient, now he moves forward, saying in a low, quiet 
voice, ' You cannot open your eyes, do not try; you are to, 
rest ; you are to get quiet and well ; do not try to speak, 
only rest." At first she tries to open her eyes, then 
becomes quiet. He lifts her arm, it falls back. He opens 
her eyes, they close again. After a few minutes he either 
orders her to wake, or blows upon her eyes. Either wakr 
her instantly." 

When she awakes she Is rested and better, if not well, 
and remembers nothing of what has taken place. 

Charcot believed in fixed attention, and claimed it to be 
the only effective way to bring about Hypnotism, because 
it causes fatigue of the nerves of sight, and consequently 
produces insensibility to stimulation. 

' ' Charcot distinguishes a grand hyp7ioHsme and a petit 
hypnotisme. The last he does not describe in detail; in the 
first, which is found in hystero-epileptic, he distinguishes 
three stages: 

First. — The cataleptic stage, which Is produced by a 
sudden loud noise, or results from the opening of the 



96 HYPNOTISM, 

subject's eyes while he is in the lethargic stage; in this 
stage the position of the Hmbs is easily changed while the 
hypnotic's eyes are open. Every position which is given 
to the limbs is maintained for some time, but is also easily 
changed by the experimenter without resistance on the 
part of the subject; there is also no wax like flexibility 
(^fiexibilitas cerea). No tender reflex, no increase of mus- 
cular irritability. There is analgesia, but it is possible to 
exercise a certain influence over the subject through sight, 
hearing and muscular sense." 

"Second. — The lethargic stage. It can be induced 
primarily by fixed attention, or secondarily out of the 
cataleptic stage by closing the eyes. The subject is 
unconscious and not accessible to external influences, 
and there is analgesia. The limbs are relaxed and 
fall by their own weight ; the eyes are closed, the 
tendon reflexes increased. There is increased excitability 
of the muscles, the so-called neuro-muscular hyper- 
excitability. These increases are demonstrated by 
mechanical stimulation of the muscles, nerves, or tendons. 
For example, if the ulnar nerve is pressed, a contraction 
of all the muscles which it supplies follows, so that a 
characteristic posture of the fingers results ; if a muscle 
is stimulated, it alone contracts. The same thing is 
attained by this as by local faradization in normal states, 
which was shown by Duchenne. While at the extremities, 
the contraction passes into contracture — that is, becomes 
permanent — a stimulation of the facial nerve only causes 
a simple contraction in the face, which soon ceases. 
The resolution of the resulting contracture is produced 
by exciting the antagonistic muscles ; thus, for example, 
a contracture of the wrist is put to an end by excita- 



HYPNOTISM. 97 

tlon of the extensors, and the contracture of one 
sternomastoid by stimulation of the other. "It is striking," 
says Moll, "that, according to Charcot, the motor 
parts of the cerebral contex, can be stimulated through 
the cranium by means of the galvanic current, so that 
the muscles in connection with them contract." 

"Third. — "Wi^ somnambulic stage. In some persons 
it arises primarily by means of fixed attention; it can 
be i?iduced in all by friction on the crown of the head, during 
the lethargic or cataleptic stages. The eyes are closed or 
half-closed. By means of gentle stimulation of the skin, 
the underlying muscles can be put into rigid contraction, 
but not, however, by stimulation of the muscles, nerves, 
or tendons, as in the lethargic stage. Also, contracture 
does not appear on stimulation of the antagonistic 
muscles as in that stage. The posture of the limbs produced 
by contracture in somnambulism cannot also be so easily 
altered as in catalepsy; a certain resistance appears, as in 
flexibilitas cerea. 

Charcot calls it the cataleptoid state. The same stim- 
ulation of the skin which induced the contractures also 
resolves them. " In somnambulism many external influ- 
ences are possible by means of suggestion," says Bernheim 
and Moll. 

Perhaps it would be well to say a word about hysteria 
and its effects; as Charcot believed that hysteria and 
hypnotism were very closely connected. 

The complexus of morbid phenomena designated by. 
hysteria would require volumes to adequately describe. 
The state exists in the intellectual and the ignorant alike. 
It occurs in all gradations and varieties. It may be, and 
is said frequently to be hereditary. Sometimes in different 



98 HYPNOTISM. 

generations it alternates with epilepsy, insanity, alcohol and 
consumption. 

The only thing in common between the widely different 
condition termed hysteria is the fact that in these cases 
after death we have no means of discovering definite 
organic diseases of the nervous system. 

Minor degrees of this condition are evinced by an 
instability of the emotional system. It occurs more 
frequently in women than in men. 

The attack of laughing and crying which may come 
upon them as the result of mental excitement, grief, etc., is 
well known to all. It is probably not so well understood by 
the public that, in the graver forms of this disease, persons 
may be temporarily paralyzed in one limb, or in one side 
of the body, in the lower or upper extremities, or in all 
at the same time. There are attacks of blindness, deafness, 
perversion of the senses of taste and smell, or again all 
of these senses may be wonderfully acute. Sometimes, 
but not always, there exists intense vanity, a great desire for 
notoriety, and this desire may lead the patient to simulate 
many organic diseases, or to pretend in various ways that 
she is afflicted with conditions which are only imaginary. 
Hence to say that a patient is hysterical may imply perhaps 
more than would be desired. 

The profoundly hysterical persons sometimes have what 
Charcot terms hysteria — epileptic fits. 

These persons also take very strong likes and dislikes 
without reason. Again, they are very intuitive. There is 
not an organ or a system of the body exempt from 
these symptoms. There may be areas of numbness 
(anaesthesia), or hyperaesthesia (great sensitiveness) may 
be present. There may be zones of the body so 



HYPNOTISM. 99 

sensitive that they cannot bear even the weight of the 
sHghtest clothing. Tlie skin may become pale or the 
reverse. Bloody sweats have been described; in fact, 
it would be impossible to imagine a symptom which 
does not exist in some of these cases. Hence it follows, 
that a layman should never make diagnosis of hysteria 
in himself or in any one else, for. Indeed, it will 
puzzle at times the skill of the most expert neurologists. 
The point which should be understood clearly by all is this, 
that the disease is susceptible of relief through widely 
different agencies. 

The following are Dr. James R. Cocke's words, 
verbatim^ from this very interesting book : "Hypnotism, 
How it is done; its uses and Dangers." This book we 
can furnish, sent by registered mail, $2.50. 

' ' Cases of hysterical paralysis may yield to the 
application of magnets, metals, prayer, drugs, electricity, 
aye, anything in which the patient can be made to believe. 
Again, these same patients may prove refractory for years, 
and be cured by some trifling circumstance, or never 
cured. 

"Many of the miracles and wonders worked by 
charlatans are upon this class of patients. I have no 
objection to the patient being cured, no matter how 
it is done, if the cure is not more injurious than the 
disease. The thing which is objectionable is, that this 
is sometimes the case. 

"Persons afflicted with any form Oi nysteria are entitled 
to the utmost consideration. In these cases, particularly, 
the physician should use the greatest amount of care, for 
he may overlook some existing organic disease. 

"Some types of the hysteria are made better and some 



loo HYPNOTISM, 

worse by hypnotism. All are benefited if some form 
of suggestion, with or without hypnosis, is skilfully used." 

"Mental therapeutics promises more in this held 
than in any other. Whenever the imagination is strong, 
when the patient shows fanatical tendencies ; whenever 
the disposition is essentially contradictory, as is often 
the case ; whenever the patient pretends a great many 
conditions that do not exist, and when, accompanying 
all these, the intellect is enfeebled, hypnotism, should 
be used with the greatest care, if at all, and only 
when all other methods fail. 

"On the contrary, when there is anaesthesia, (numb- 
ness), or when one faculty is alone affected by the 
hysterical symptoms, and when the mental equipoise 
of the patient is fairly good, hypnotism promises a great 
deal, as the following case will show. 

"A girl, sixteen years of age, attended a clinic, 
at which I was a post-graduate student. Her arm was 
paralyzed and had been so for three years. The sense 
of touch, temperature, and pain were gone. The nutrition, 
however, was good, and the electrical reaction normal. 
The arm, hung limp by her side. The physician in 
charge of the clinic hypnotized her. He then commanded 
her to raise her paralyzed arm. She did so, to the 
astonishment of her mother, who was present, and to 
the amazement of the students as well. The physician 
told her that she would be able to use her arm for 
one week, and that at the end of that time she must 
return to the chnic. At the appointed time she came 
back, and the arm became paralyzed only as she entered 
the room, so she said. Again, she was hypnotized, 
and was told that she would use her arm for a period 



HYPNOTISM. loi 

of two weeks, and the interval of each hypnosis was 
lengthened." 

"This patient presented not the highly -wrought 
emotional disposition, but simply an hysterical paralysis. 
This symptom, like all other symptoms of hysteria, 
cannot be accounted for upon any hypothesis at present 
current. It is not purely imaginary in the ordinary sense 
of the word, but it certainly is connected with the mind 
in some way." 

* ' Medical literature is filled with such cases, and so-called 
miraculous cures of similar conditions abound on every 
hand. Here, too, the temperament is equally important, and 
the suggestion must be tactfully suited to each patient." 

From the foregoing it can readily be understood why 
Dr. Charcot was so successful with hysterical cases. In an 
attack of majer hysteria there are sensory and moter 
disturbances, general or local. Now, in a person who is 
hypnotized, these same phenomena can be produced 
exactly, and are apparently from the same source, the 
inhid. They vanish with the hypnotic state, but may be 
left by suggestion in the mind of the patient after the 
hypnotic .state has gone. Can we then, by suggestion, 
write almost anything we choose upon the mind as upon 
a tablet with an indelible ink ? Does this state, termed 
hypnosis, so change the condition of the psychic life as 
to make it susceptible to such profound alteration? It 
certainly seems in many cases to be so. 



I02 HYPNOTISM. 



CHAPTER VI. 

HYPNOTISM. 

The School of the Hospital de la Charite— Dr. J. Luys' method, and 
his many finds, which have helped Hypnotism — The hypnotic 
mirror — Its uses and successes — The effects of colored balls on 
hypnotized patients — The use of animal magnetism as united, 
with hypnotism — The uses of drugs, and their influence on 
hypnotized persons — The uses of magnets in hypnotism. 

The school of the Hospital de la Charite acts as a kind 
of connecting link between that of Nancy and La 
Salpetriere, accepting as it does both methods and all 
the theories. Dr. J. Luys, Member of the Academy 
of Medicine of Paris, France, is at the head of La Charite, 
where he has performed many curious experiments. Both 
professor and experiments have, however, shared the 
usual fate of investigators and new ideas, and have been 
viewed with great suspicion. Emotions produced by 
physical agents, and the action of medicine not immediately 
applied, are by no means facts recognized by the scientific 
world. After examining the different phases of hypnotic 
sleep, as used by Dr. Luys, we will relate them as they 
have been discovered by the now noted Professor. 

Dr. Luys, when physician at La Salpetriere, was 
named a member of the Commission appointed by the 
Biological Society, with Dr. Charcot, to examine Burq's 




Fig, (II.) M. Young's Method. 
Original Portraits. Copyright by M. Young, August, 1899. 



HYPNOTISM. ' 103 

discovery. He was thus enabled to follow up and test on 
his own patients Charcot's assertions, to form an opinion, 
and by pushing forward his experiments, to revolu- 
tionize the scientific world by his discoveries and their 
consequences. The action of physical agents — even at a 
distance — and of suggestion are both admitted at la 
Charite. Forces acting outside of these cannot be included 
among these factors if we suppose them to be localized in 
their action. 

The best description of the method and working 
of the hypnotic treatment used at La Charite, we find in 
Dr. Foveau de Courmelles' book. He has been connected 
with Dr. Luys, and therefore can be quoted as authority. 
The following is what he says : 

"The hypnotic state, generally produced by the 
contemplation of a bright spot, a lamp, or the human 
eye, is in Dr. Luys' method induced by a peculiar 
kind of mirror. The mirror is Dr. Luys' own discovery 
and made of pieces of wood cut prismatically in which 
fragments of mirror are incrusted, they are generally 
double, and placed crosswise, and by means of clock-work, 
revolve automatically. They are the same as sportsmen 
use to attract larks, the rays of the sun being caught and 
reflected on every side and from all points of the horizon. 
If the little mirror in each branch are placed in parallel 
lines in front of a patient, and the rotation is rapid, 
the optic organ soon becomes fatigued, and a calming, 
soothing somnolence ensues. At first it is not a deep sleep, 
the eyelids are scarcely heavy, drowsiness, slight and 
restorative. By degrees, by a species of training, the 
hypnotic sleep differs more and more from natural sleep, 
the individual abandons himself more and more completely, 



I04 HYPNOTISM. 

and falls into one of the regular phases of hypnotic sleep. 
Without a word, without a suggestion or any other action, 
Dr. Luys has made wonderful cures. 

* ' This particular and ingenious means of inducing sleep 
is not Dr. Luys only find. He has also several methods 
of exciting emotion in hypnotized subjects, either by 
placing them in particular positions or by touching certain 
muscles of the face. He also obtained these results by 
placing on the neck of the patient tubes filled with various 
medicinal substances. 

" If an hermetically sealed tube containing a medicine 
unknown to the subject is placed in contact with the neck, 
an effect varying according to each substance is produced. 
Thus alcohol produces merry or furious drunkenness 
according as it is distilled from corn or from wine; water 
produces hydrophobia; ipecac, vomiting; oil of cherry-laurel, 
ecstasy and piety; nitro-benzole, convulsive shocks through 
the whole body; valerian, feline movements and crawling 
on all fours, etc. 

* ' There have even been cases that have acted as invol- 
untary tests; as for instance, some tubes were brought in 
haphazard, and the operator thinking he had one kind 
of medicine was astonished to see it produce the effects 
of another substance. On examination it was found that 
the experimentalist had made a mistake, and that the 
subject was right. The idea of suggestion must therefore 
in this case be set aside. 

" On the other hand, I heard in June, 1887, Dr. Jules 
Voisin, physician at the Salpetriere, relate that he had 
produced the same effects on the subjects by saying out 
loud what substance he was using, while in reality he only 
made use of the empty tubes. And a fortnight later. 



HYPNOTISM. 105 

repeating his experiment without saying anything, he 
obtained the same series of phenomena exactly in the same 
order. He therefore concluded that the action was solely 
due to suggestion, and also to the sharpness of memory in 
neurotic patients. 

"Dr. Luys also induces emotions by colored balls. 
He has often exhibited these phenomena in the course 
of his lectures. For this purpose he uses hollow glass 
balls, either blue, yellow, red or green. The subject 
having been sent to sleep, (the lethargic stage), a shade is 
placed over the subject's eyes, and suddenly, under the 
action of one of these balls, he is seen to open his eyes and 
manifest a distinct emotion. If a blue ball is presented 
to him, terror and horror are depicted in his gaze, if 
a yellow ball, joy and mirth. According as the colored 
surface is larger or smaller the emotion is more or less 
violent. The same thing takes place with magnets ; 
according to the nature of the pole used, the countenance 
assumes different expressions. It is interesting psychic 
action. Thus, the north pole placed in the hand causes joy 
and mirth, the south pole, repulsion. The reunion of the 
two forces — that is to say, a pole placed in each hand — give 
experimental indifference. 

*' Taking for basis the transfer of insensibility, emotions 
or contractions from one point of the organism to another, 
by the action of magnets, and the analogy that exists 
between these latter and the human body. Dr. Luys — in 
this following Babinski, who conceived the idea of passing 
the disease of one subject to another — adopted the idea of 
putting his patients in communication one with another. 
This is termed transfer. Some individuals are easily 
disposed to take, for the time being, at least, the disease of 



io6 HYPNOTISM. 

others ; and, when brought into contact with the sick, 
can for a few minutes cure them." 

**The trained subject, easily hypnotizable, and the 
sufferer are seated opposite each other. The first is sent 
to sleep, while holding the hands of the patient; a powerful 
magnet is moved round, first describing a closed circle, 
and then turning the north pole to the diseased part 
or organ. A peculiar kind of contagion takes place, 
a transfusion of vitality, a propagation of nerve influx. 
The hypnotized subject suffers but little, still he does suffer; 
while the sick person, his partner in this struggle against 
disease, is relieved." 

" If the experiment is renewed several times the patient's 
organism is rested, and b)^ degrees throws off the disease. 
Magnetizers have always asserted that while making their 
curative passes they catch the disease. This would be a 
demonstration of transfer^ but would require to undergo a 
thorough investigation." 

With regard to the action of the magnet during 
hypnosis, the phenomena of transference must first be 
mentioned. According to the school of Charcot trans- 
ference means that certain phenomena, influenced by some 
sesthesio-genetic expedient, particularly the magnet, change 
the place of their appearance. Charcot says that such 
phenomena are seen in hysterical patients. Thus, contract- 
ures on the right side can be transferred to the left by the 
magnet. Charcot, as well as a number of other experi- 
menters, among them Preyer, thinks these phenomena 
quite proved, while in Germany a mental factor has been 
called in to account for them. 

Dr. Moll says: ''Another method of influencing with 
the magnet is called polarization. It is a reversal of a 



HYPNOTISM. 107 

functional state. For example, the magnet Is supposed to 
resolve a contracture induced by suggestion (motor polar- 
ization). It can banish a suggested hallucination, and can 
change the mental pictures of colors into their complemen- 
taries. If a subject believes he sees blue, he thinks he sees 
yellow when the magnet is brought close to him (sensory 
polarization). The magnet is said to change happiness 
into sadness (mental polarization). When a reversal of the 
state takes place, e. g., when **blue" is turned into 
"yellow," i. e., into its complementary color, then this is 
called polarization in a narrower sense, and an arbitrary 
change of state, i. e. , the changing of * ' yellow ' ' into 
''red" is called " dispolarlzation." Binet and Fer^ are 
the authors of these experiments, which are confirmed by 
Bianchi and Sommer." 

Venturini and Ventra, make a therapeutical experiment 
in connection with these phenomena. They say they 
conquered a fixed idea, an auto-suggestion in the waking 
state, by means of the magnet. Some experiments of Riggi 
belong to this class ; he says that the approach of a 
magnet in hypnosis often causes subjective discomfort. 
In other cases the magnet is said to have put an end to the 
hypnosis. 

* * A third possible way of influencing the hypnotic 
subject by the magnet is given by Tamburini and Seppilli. 
They think that when the magnet is brought close to the 
pit of the stomach it influences the respiratory movements. 
Later on, Tamburini and Righi found that other metallic 
bodies produced the same effect ; the strength of the effect 
depended, however, on the size of the metal. The electro- 
magnet is said to have the same effect whether the stream 
is open or closed ; Tamburini, supposes later that it is only 



io8 HYPNOTISM. 

the temperature of the magnet which has the effect, and 
that the magnetic force may have no influence." 

"Lastly, there are Babinski's and Luys' experiments, 
founded on a union of true magnetism and animal magnetism. 
If a hypnotized subject and a sick person are set back to 
back, a magnet put between them will cause the sick 
person's symptoms to pass over to the hypnotized 
subject. Hysterical dumbness and contractures have 
been thus transferred. But symptoms of organic disease, 
e. g., of disseminated sclerosis have also been transferred 
in this way. As a matter of course, the phenomena 
must be caused by suggestion. The hypnotic subject 
must not know what the sick person's symptoms are. 
Dr. Luys goes still further. He places a magnet on the 
patient's head; after a time, he places the same magnet on a 
hypnotized person's head; now, the morbid symptoms of 
the first person should appear in the hypnotized person. 
The whole arrangement of the experiments is so uncritical 
that there can be no doubt about Luys' experiment." 

Dr. Moll says: "All these actions of the magnet 
appear to rest on erroneous observation. But it is certainly 
singular that the action of the magnet should have been 
asserted by so many authors at so many different times." 

Little has been said in explanation of this supposed 
effect. Obersteiner supposed that there may be a magnetic 
sense, which may come into activity during hypnosis, and 
which is perhaps localized in certain terminal organs 
of perception whose functions are still unknown. 

Dr. R. H. Vincent, in his book entided "The Ele- 
ments of Hypnotism," gives the following description 
of Dr. Luys' method, which he has seen used many times : 

"Luys' Mirror Rotatif. — This is an ingenious instru- 




Fig. ( 3. ) The Fascination Method. 
Original Portraits. Copyriglit by M. Young, August, 1899. 



HYPNOTISM, 109 

ment invented by Dr. Luys, of the Chanty Hospital, Paris. 
It consists of two mirrors rapidly revolving in opposite 
directions, and by gazing at this for a short time the sight 
becomes tired and dazzled and hypnosis is easily produced. 

" Many advantages are claimed for this method — that it 
saves the operator time and trouble, and is impersonal; 
that a number of people can be hypnotized at the same 
time by its means, and that it never fails. 

**The saving of time is not really so great as might 
be imagined, for each subject must need the hypnotist's 
personal attention, while there are many other methods 
equally impersonal. Only fairly susceptible persons, and 
those who had been previously hypnotized would, generally 
speaking, be influenced en masse, and these could be 
hypnotized as quickly by almost any other means. It is, 
however, of some service in certain cases. 

' ' Dr. Luys has been very successful in curing many 
patients suffering with the following diseases : Sleeplessness, 
Depression, Inattention, Irritability, or in other words, 
which we understand much better, Nervous Prostration, 
technically termed *' Neurasthenia." This disease is more 
amenable to hypnotism than is any other form of nervous 
disease. ' ' 

Dr. Cocke, says: "Many pains, as neuralgia, etc., 
can be relieved or cured by the use of hypnotism. Many 
functional disturbances of different parts of the body, 
likewise, may find relief through its agency. Many painful 
conditions often attending destructive organic disease can 
be ameliorated in the same way. Hypnotism never 
did and never can restore organs whose active tissues 
have been totally destroyed. A man whose brain has 
been injured, either from external causes or from an 



no HYPNOTISM. 

extensive hemorrhage within its substance, can never 
again have the paralyzed side of the body restored to 
its normal condition by hypnotism, but if enough brain 
tissue is left, suggestion made in the hypnotic state 
may prove a more powerful stimulant to him than 
ordinary incentives, and he may regain, in a degree 
the use of his body. 

"I do not know a greater crime than holding out 
false hopes to such a one, when these hopes must be 
blighted. Therefore, too much should not be claimed 
for any medicine or any method of cure, for fear that 
the disappointment will be too great. It indeed requires 
nice discrimination upon the part of any one practising 
hypnotism, to know how much either to hope for themselves, 
or to promise to their patients. 

''Hypnotism is a Remedial Agent, so mystefious and 
overwhelming in its effect that it is likely to impress too 
profoundly the invalid who is seeking relief It is more 
wonderful than surgery, more subtle in its influence than 
drugs, and permeates every part of the psychic life of the 
patient. ' ' 



HYPNOTISM. Ill 



CHAPTER VII. 

HYPNOTISM. 

The Classifications of Hypnotism — The Inductive Stages of Hyp- 
nosis Classified as used in the different Methods — Gurney, 
Speculative Stages of Hypnosis — Lloyd Tuckey's Classifica- 
tions of Hypnosis — Dr. Liebault Stages of Hypnotism, numbers 
six — Bernheim's Divisions of Hypnotism — The Method used by 
Ralph H. Vincent, of London, England — Very Important to 
a Student in Hypnotism. 

We are indebted to the following pages from the very 
v^aluable work by Ralph H. Vincent, entitled "The 
Elements of Hypnotism," published in London, England, 
in the year 1897. 

"Braid, in 1840, we have seen by his insistence on the 
necessity of concentration and fixed attention, made great 
advances ; but to Liebault, of Nancy, belongs the honor 
of giving to the world, a scientific exposition of the 
rationale of Hypnotism. We have it from Liebault' s own 
lips that he was first attracted to the subject by reading 
Braid's works, and he has constantly admitted that 
the Nancy system is indebted to Braid for its Genesis. 
In connection with Nancy must be mentioned Bernheim, 
who has greatly developed and systematized the study 
of Hypnotism. 

"The method in common use at Nancy is as follows : 
"The patient is comfortably seated in an easy chair with 



112 HYPNOTISM. 

his back to the light, and the operator stands by his side, 
holding up two fingers of his own hand, some few inches 
(i2 to 15), from the patient's eyes. The patient is told to 
look intently at these two fingers, and as far as possible to 
keep his mind a blank. As soon as the eyes begin to 
show symptoms of weariness, the hypnotist begins in a 
somewhat muffled and monotonous tone of voice to suggest 
sleep. Sometimes the operator, without waiting for the 
symptoms to appear, will start at once telling the patient, 
* You are beginning to feel drowsy ; ' * Your sight is 
getting dim,' etc., etc. While in other cases he will wait 
until the eyes begin to blink somewhat, and then seek to 
increase the sleepiness by suggestions, which are made as 
the symptoms begin to develop themselves. 

''It is not to be supposed that in all cases precisely the 
same formula or details of treatment are to be followed ; 
but the principle is the same. Thus this method of Nancy 
takes Braid's system of physically wearying the eyes, and 
combines with it a system of verbal suggestion, and this 
method is the one followed with variations in detail by the 
leading hypnotists of every country. 

' ' As a matter of fact, there is no one plan which will 
succeed in all cases; some patients will be quite uninfluenced 
by one method of treatment, while they will be readily 
susceptible to another. Dr. Moll says he has succeeded in 
hypnotizing by means of "passes" where fixed attention 
and simple suggestion both failed, and vice versa. 

"The method generally adopted by the writer, does not 
differ materially from the Nancy method above described, 
but we shall here incorporate into our description details 
of practical importance. The first essential for the successful 
induction of hypnosis in a person who has not been 



HYPNOTISM 113 

previously hypnotized is to ensure that the person is in 
a position that is quite comfortable, and which he will be 
able to maintain during the period of induction without 
discomfort ; every little detail in this respect is an important 
feature in determining the degree of success or failure on 
the part of the hypnotist in a large number of cases; the 
kind of chair in which the patient sits, its relation to the 
lighting of the room; the position of his legs, and feet, 
arms and hands; the head, while being supported, must 
not be allowed to fall backward, and the subject must sit 
as squarely as his comfort will allow. The surroundings 
must be free from any disturbing influences, and noises 
which we should not generally notice cause more difficulty 
than the larger volumes of sound ; thus, the ticking of a 
clock, the quiet opening or shutting of a door, the whis- 
pering of persons inside the room — all these things serve 
to distract the attention of the subject at a critical time. 
The subject should be asked to keep his mind a blank 
as far as possible ; he should be told not to trouble 
himself about any methods used by the hypnotist ; not to 
pay attention to what he may say, and especially not to 
try and help him by trying to " go off;" and every 
trouble should be taken to see that the patient is quite 
calm and free from any undue nervousness. Having placed 
the subject comfortably in the chair, the next point is to 
fix his attention. For this purpose, it is not theoretically 
necessary that we should resort to any physical assistance, 
but the attention is fixed much more easily when some 
such assistance is employed. To gain attention the fixation 
of the sight is the best and readiest means, and we therefore 
tell the subject to look steadily and without blinking more 
than can be helped at some given object. The exact 



114 HYPNOTISM. 

object matters little; it may be the operator's fingers, or 
a small article held in the patient's hand, but it should not 
be more than about one foot from the eyes of the subject. 
It should be placed in such a position that when looking at 
it the eyes are fairly wide open. The light should fall clearly 
on the object, and the subject should have his back towards 
the source of the light. The hours after daylight, are, on 
the whole, to be preferred, for in the morning, the nervous 
irritability is generally greater than in the evening ; the 
subject is consequently rendered passive with greater 
ease, and his general condition is more favorable. 
After an evening meal, most people are wiUing to 
remain quietly in a chair for a short period, whereas 
earlier in the day the enforced restraint might be more or 
less troublesome ; for the purpose of concentration of light 
on the object to be looked at, artificial light is better than 
daylight. It must not be assumed that these detailed 
observances are in all cases necessary, for it greatly depends 
on the susceptibility of the subject, but if one is to gain 
an average of anything over 80 per cent, it will only be by 
attention to these details. The first hypnosis is always the 
most difficult, and after the subject has been hypnotized a 
few times, we can generally dispense with a great many 
of these precautions. Let us now watch the subject. Pas- 
sive, and with his gaze fixed on the given object, he at first 
appears to be in the normal condition; after an interval 
of varying duration, a change conies over the subject. 
The writer confesses that to describe the change in so 
many words, he finds it impossible, but the experienced 
hypnotist easily recognizes it ; the pupils have somewhat 
dilated ; the eyelids may be quivering ; the subject is 
more absorbed in the object than he was at first, the 



HYPNOTISM. 115 

face has lost its usual expression, the respiratory rhythm 
is slightly altered. At this point the skill of the Hypnotist 
has its greatest scope for everything depe^ids oyi the rapid 
and accurate perception of the changes which the subject is 
undergoing ; Hypnosis is beginning. The characteristic 
reaction of the subject to suggestion is also begimiing, 
but it is far from complete, and we have to judge when 
the subject can take the first siiggestion^ and how much 
he can take. If we begin too early we shall disturb 
him; if we wait too long, he may, and often does, 
return, more or less, to his normal condition, and we have 
missed our opportunity. This return is followed by a 
gradual resumption of the hypnosis, and before the final 
hypnosis is induced, this alteration may take place several 
times. The early suggestions must not be of a character 
repellant or objectionable to the subject's consciousness. 
Thus, fact and suggestion are mingled with suggestion 
and fact. "The eyelids are quivering; the eyes are 
tired; the sleep is coming" — until gradually the state 
diverges more and more from the normal ; the final 
Hypnosis generally comes suddenly. The eyes close, 
and one symptom is nearly always present — a peculiar, 
deep, catching inspiration. The inductive stages may 
therefore be classified as 

1. — Passivity. 

2. — Passi\ity with attention. 

3. — Acute passivity with acute attention. 

4. — Hypnosis. 

' ' The hypnosis thus obtained varies with each individual ; 

but there are certain classifications which are important ; 

some pass into a light stage ; others into a deep stage ; 

as a rule, the hypnotic state deepens with every hypnosis 



ii6 HYPNOTISM. 

till about the fourth or at most the sixth hypnosis ; by 
this time the subject will have reached his deepest stage ; 
in the hypnosis subsequent to this, he presents the 
phenomena of this stage. This is a curious but constant 
phenomenon, and enables us to classify each subject 
according to his stage of hypnosis, a point which, in 
experimental work, is exceedingly useful. These stages 
vary from a condition which only an expert can recognize 
as an hypnosis to a condition in which the strikingly 
abnormal phenomena are present. The variety of these 
stages is so great that many observers have made attempts 
at classification, and these are useful in giving the reader an 
idea of the great differences between the hypnosis of the 
different subjects. 

Gurney, whose researches are valuable though specula- 
tive, divided Hypnosis into two stages : 

1 . The * ' alert ' ' stage. 

2. The * ' deep ' ' stage. 

Forel names three stages as follows. 

1. Drowsiness. 

2. Inability to open the eyes. Obedience to suggestion. 

3. Somnambulism. Loss of memory. 

Lloyd Tuckey gives a very similar classification to 
Ford's : 

1. Light sleep. 

2. Profound sleep. 

3. Somnambulism. 

Liebault has described six different stages: 

1. Drowsiness. 

2. Drowsiness. Suggested catalepsy possible. 

3. Light sleep. Automatic movements possible. 

4. Deep sleep. The subject ceases to be in relation 
with the outer world. 



HYPNOTISM. 117 

5. Light somnambulism. Memory on waking indistinct 
and hazy. 

6. Deep somnambulism. Entire loss of memory on 
waking. All the phenomena of post-hypnotic suggestion 
possible. 

Bernheim suggests no less than nine divisions: 

1. Drowsiness. Suggestions of local warmth are 
effective. 

2. Drowsiness with inability to open the eyes. 

3. Suggestive catalepsy slightly present. 

4. Suggestive catalepsy more pronounced. 

5. Suggestive contractures may be induced. 

6. Automatic obedience. 

7. — Loss of memory on waking. Hallucinations not 
possible. 

8. — Loss of memory ; slight possibility of producing 
hallucinations, but not post-hypnotically. 

9. — Loss of memory ; hypnotic and post-hypnotic 
hallucinations possible. 

" The extent to which suggestion affects the subject 
depends on the extent to which he is divorced from 
consciousness of the external, and on the degree to which 
the psychical action of the neuronic groups is inhibited." 

''Many post-hypnotic suggestions obtain their reactions 
almost as well in the lightest stages as in the deepest, 
provided the suggestions be of a character to suit the 
condition." 

"The dehypnotization, or waking from hypnosis, is 
effected by suggestion, on the same principle as that on 
which the state is induced. Physical means, such as blow- 
ing on the eyes, may be used ; but in any case they can 
only be regarded as aids to the suggestion, and their value 
depends entirely on the mental impression they produce." 



ii8 HYPNOTISM. 

''Many means are recommended by various writers for 
waking the patient ; fanning, sprinkling with water, loud 
calls and noises, etc. Just as the downward pass may 
hypnotize, so the upward pass, (by reason of the mental 
suggestion it conveys) will serve to awaken." 

"There is no difficulty or delay in ending the hypnosis. 
In all cases the subject is brought back to the normal 
state instantaneously. In the hands of an unskillful or 
ignorant operator, however, the subject may pass from the 
waking state into a condition of apparent lethargy; and out 
of the hands of the experimenter, who is able to neither 
awaken nor to influence his subject. These misfortunes can 
never occur to the practised hypnotist; but many such 
cases are known, and the danger of these rash experiments 
in hypnotism cannot be too strongly insisted on. 

**When once it is found that the patient does not 
awaken in obedience to the operator, no further atteinpts 
should be made, but an experienced hypnotist should be 
immediately sent for, or if one cannot be found the subject 
should be allowed to sleep it off. In the one or two cases 
of the kind which have come under the writer's notice, the 
harm done was almost entirely due to the ignorant and 
futile attempts made to arouse the patient. 

The duration of the hypnotic sleep of the subject, if not 
awakened, is very variable. Some subjects will awaken at 
the precise moment when the operator leaves them, the 
fact of his absence acting as a suggestion that they are no 
longer under his control. Others will be awakened by an 
unexpected or loud noise. Some will be aroused from the 
state by the efforts they have made in it ; thus, for instance, 
a subject has been awakened by laughing loudly in 
obedience to a hypnotic suggestion. If the sleep be light, 



( 



HYPNOTISM. 119 

subjects will often return to the no.tural state in a very- 
short period ; but if it be deep, the sleep may continue for 
three to four hours. Bernheim mentions a case in which 
the sleep lasted eighteen hours. 

The condition after Hypnosis is found to be perfectly 
normal. In the hands of an experienced hypnotist the 
subject never finds that he is suffering from any such thing 
as ' ' drowsiness " or " giddiness. ' ' Any ill effects are due 
entirely to the fault of the operator. 

** Various opinions have been expressed; some well, 
many ill informed, with reference to the persons who are 
hypnotizable. It would be idle to affirm of any particular 
temperament that it lends itself to hypnosis when we find 
that over eighty per ceyit. of all persons tried is the 
minimum average of any one who properly understands the 
subject in its practical application. Speaking from his own 
experience the writer has found that the class presenting 
the least difficulty, and generally giving very satisfactory 
experimental results is to be found in young men of average 
education and of fairly all-round qualities." 

** Excessive self-consciousness presents some difficulty, 
and consequently the more or less brilliant neurotic, and 
the very stupid and conceited resemble one another in 
being difficult subjects. Idiots are not hypnotizable, and 
the insane are excessively difficult to hypnotize. Sex does 
not appear to materially affect the question. There is 
a somewhat commoner misconception prevalent which 
regards hysterical conditions as likely to indicate easy 
hypnotizability. Hysteria, however, is nearly always the 
source of much difficulty and never makes the induction 
easy. Nationality has very little to do with the matter. 
In France, Liebault hypnotized 985 out of 1,012 ; in 



I20 HYPNOTISM. 

Sweden, Wellenstrand hypnotized 701 out of 718 ; and 
in Holland, Van Reutezhen hypnotized 169 out of 178. 
Bernheim and Forel agree, with reference to the medical 
application of hypnosis, that the opinion of physicians who 
cannot hypnotize at least eighty per cent, of their patients 
is of no value. The present writer's percentage in all his 
cases between January, 1892, and December, 1896, was 915. 
Among members of the University of Oxford, his per- 
centage was 95.84. And judging from his observation 
of a large number of cases, he is on the whole inclined 
to regard susceptibility to hypnosis as generally belonging 
to men with brains of good quality; unquestionably the 
process of hypnotizing well educated people is easier, 
and as a rule, takes less time." 

Who is hypnotizable ? In order to settle this question 
without hypnotic experiments, Ochorowicz has invented a 
special instrument — the hypnoscope ; it is an iron magnet, 
in the form of a ring, which the person to be tested 
puts on his finger. Hypnotizable persons are supposed 
to experience certain sensations in the skin and twitching 
of the muscles, while with the insusceptible nothing of the 
kind takes place. The researches of other investigators 
have not altogether confirmed this. 

Dr. Moll says : '■ ' All other signs which are supposed 
to indicate susceptibility to hypnotism, I consider un- 
trustworthy. " 

*' Neither neurasthenia nor pallor, neither hysteria nor 
general feebleness of health, produce a disposition of 
hypnosis. As far as hysteria is concerned, it is not in my 
experience pecuHarly suited to hypnotism. Our ordinary 
hysteria with its variable characteristics of headache, and 
the feeling of a lump in the throat (globus) combined 



HYPNOTISM. 121 

with the general hysterical desire to be interesting and 
to exaggerate the sufferings endured, produces, according 
to my experience, very little disposition to hypnosis. The 
spirit of contradiction, very strongly developed in such 
patients, contributes not a little to this. The mistaken 
notion that hysterical or nervous patients are particularly 
susceptible to hypnotism results from the fact that most 
physicians have experimented with them only ; besides 
which It is very easy to discover in all persons something 
which may be explained as a hysterical symptom, if only 
we try to do so. If, however, we consider every one who 
submits himself to a hypnotic experiment to be ' nervous ' 
(Morand), then naturally, only nervous persons can be put 
into the hypnotic state ; but this view cannot be taken 
seriously. In reality, if we are to take a pathological 
condition of the organism as a necessary condition for 
hypnosis, we shall be obliged to conclude that nearly 
everybody is not quite right in the head. For the rest, 
the old mesmerists in part (Wirth and others), maintained 
that hysteria only produced a disposition to the magnetic 
sleep." 

" Further, if general weakness is to be put forward as a 
predisposing factor, I, for my part, must emphasize the fact 
that I have hypnotized many very muscular persons. It is 
well known that Hansen, whose practical experience is 
of some value, always preferred muscular people for his 
experiments. The susceptibility of tuberculous patients is 
striking. ' ' — Bernheim. 

"With regard to Intelligence, intelligent persons are 
more easily hypnotizable than the dull and stupid. Among 
the lower classes the mentally superior are undoubtedly 
easier to hypnotize than others. Mental excitement easily 



122 HYPNOTISM. 

prevents hypnosis. The numerous observations made by 
Wetterstrand, Ringler, and others, that certain individuals 
are occasionally refractory to hypnosis may be connected 
with this fact. I could confirm this occasional disinclination 
to hypnosis by a whole series of cases. I consider it a 
complete mistake to say that the disposition to hypnosis is 
a sign of weakness of will. ~ Without doubt the ability to 
maintain a passive state has a predisposing effect. This is 
why soldiers are in general easy to hypnotize. The ability 
to direct one's thoughts in any particular direction is also 
very favorable. As we habitually consider this power to 
be a sign of strength of will, the disposition to hypnosis 
would rather be a sign of strength than of weakness of will. 
This ability to give the thoughts a certain prescribed 
direction is partly natural capacity, partly a matter of habit, 
and often an affair of will. Those, on the contrary, who 
can by no possibility fix their attention, who suffer from 
continual absence of mind, can hardly be hypnotized at all. 
It is specially among the nervous that a strikingly large 
number of this last class are to be found, who cannot hold 
fast to a thought, and in whom a perpetual wandering 
of the mind predominates. The disposition to hypnosis is 
also not specially common among those persons who are 
otherwise very impressible. It is well known that there are 
some who can be easily influenced in life, who believe all 
that they are told, upon whom the most unimportant 
trifles make an impression. Nevertheless, when an effort 
is made to hypnotize them, they offer a lively resistance, 
and the typical symptoms of hypnosis cannot be induced in 
them." 

With regard to age, children under three years 
cannot be hypnotized at all, and even up to about 



HYPNOTISM. 123 

eight years of age they can only be hypnotized with 
difficulty. Although children are otherwise easily 
influenced, their thoughts are so easily distracted that 
they cannot fix their minds on a prescribed picture, such 
as that of hypnosis. Old age is by no means refractory 
to hypnosis. According to the experience of the school 
of Nancy, with which mine agree, older persons more 
often remember, after hypnosis, all that has happened 
than do younger ones. Sex has no particular influence ; 
it is a mistake to suppose that women are better adapted 
than men." 

The frequency with which an attempt should be 
repeated on the same person is of more importance. 
While according to Hanhule, only one person in ten 
proves susceptible on a first attempt ; the proportion 
increases enormously with the frequency of the sittings. 
This is not to be wondered at, from the mental excitement 
shown by many people in the beginning. And as it is most 
important to hypnosis that the attention should be distracted, 
many people are first of all obliged to learn to concentrate 
their thoughts. There are even experimenters who main- 
tain that everybody is hypnotizable, if only the attempt 
is continued long enough. ' ' Without declaring this view 
to be false," says Dr. Moll : "I may remark that I have 
made forty attempts with some persons without obtaining 
hypnosis. Perhaps, by even longer continued efforts a 
result would have been attained, as indeed has happened 
to me many times after forty vain attempts. In other 
cases the exact opposite happens, and the oftener the 
attempt is made, the less successful is it ; by a process 
of auto-suggestion, the subject persuades himself that he 
is not hypnotizable." 



124 HYPNOTISM. 

" Besides these subjective conditions are some other 
objective ones. Thus, for example, disturbing noises at 
the first experiment have power to prevent the hypnosis; 
they draw off the attention, and thus interfere with the 
mental state necessary for hypnosis. Later, when the 
subject has learned to concentrate his thoughts, noises 
are less disturbing. But in hypnotic experiments, the 
most absolute avoidance by those present of any sign 
of mistrust is necessary. The least word, a gesture, may 
thwart the attempt to hypnotize. As the mood of a large 
company is often distrustful, as a whole generation also is 
sometimes sceptical, the great variations in susceptibility 
to hypnosis which have shown themselves at different 
times and places, are explicable. It is not surprising 
that on one occasion ten persons, one after the other, 
are hypnotized, while on another occasion ten other 
persons all prove refractory." 

*' Experience and a knowledge of the mental condition 
of mankind are indispensable for the hypnotizer. The 
first is absolutely necessary; it is more important than a 
knowledge of anatomy and physiology. By experience 
one learns to discriminate and enter into the particular 
character of the subject. Practice and a gift for observation 
enable the right stress to be laid at the right moment either 
on fixed attention or on the closing of the eyes. The 
experienced experimenter knows how to judge whether it 
be best in any particular case to attain his aim by speaking 
or whether, as sometimes happens, speech would be a 
hindrance, and the chief stress would be best laid on fixed 
attention, &c. A person who is easily hypnotized can be 
hypnotized by any one ; but one who is hypnotized with 
great difiiculty can only be thrown into hypnosis by a 



HYPNOTISM. 125 

good and experienced experimenter. It is by no means a 
contradiction of this that the personal impression made by 
the experimenter may be very important and have great 
influence. In consequence of this it happens that a certain 
person (A), can be hypnotized by (B), while he remains 
refractory to the efforts of (C). On the other hand, it may 
happen that (D) can be hypnotized by (C), but not by 
(B). This shows that the influence of one person over 
another is dependent on the individuality of both. We 
find the same in life, in the relation of teacher to pupil, and 
of pupil to teacher, in the reciprocal relations of friends, or 
lovers. The influence of one person on another always 
depends on the individuality of both." 

' ' That there exists an individual aptitude for hyp- 
notization, and for making the suggestions — to which I 
lay no claim — is certain. It is true that we must not 
think of this ability as did the older mesmerists, who 
supposed that certain persons exercised a peculiar physical 
force upon others ; we must represent this natural ability to 
ourselves as we do many others, when we have to do with 
particular mental aptitudes. Calm, presence of mind, and 
patience are essential, and not every one can exercise these 
qualities. To busy one's self with hypnotizing a subject 
daily for hours at a time demands a perseverance which 
everybody does not possess. Very much more patience is 
necessary for this than for writing prescriptions, for example, 
several hundreds of which could be produced in the same 
length of time." 



126 HYPNOTISM. 



^ 



CHAPTER VIII. 

HYPNOTISM. 

The Induction of Hypnosis, by the Fascination method— The 
method as first used by Donato — Dr. Bremaud's method of 
Fascination as it differs from other methods — Abbot Faria's 
method — The power of the magnet to induce Hypnosis — Carl 
Saxtus, method — The candle method — Professor Bernheim's 
method of Suggestion^ as used by himself on his patients. 

The Fascination method, introducing as it does a large 
amount of the personal element, is a favorite one of the 
mesmeric ''professors." The subject is told to gaze 
steadily into the operator's eyes. It frequently happens 
that in a short space of time, the subject will imitate 
every movement of the operator, all the while keeping 
his eyes firmly fixed on those of the operator. This 
method is somewhat risky, since, if the subject be 
refractory, the operator himself may involuntarily become 
hypnotized. Lloyd Tuckey records an instance, where, 
in using this method on one occasion, he found himself 
developing the first symptoms of hypnosis. 

Doctor Bremaud, a naval doctor, obtained in men sup- 
posed to be perfectly healthy, a condition which he calls 
fascination. The doctor considered it hypnotism in its 
mildest form, which after repeated experiments becomes 
catalepsy. 



HYPNOTISM. 127 

Monsieur Bremaud Induced fascination by the contem- 
plation of a bright spot, the subject falls Into a state 
of stupor. He follows the operator and servilely Imitates 
his movements, gestures and words; he obeys suggestions, 
and a stimulation of the nerves Induces contraction, but the 
cataleptic pliability does not exist. 

Messieurs Bernhelm, Liegeols and Beaunis consider 
this state entirely due to suggestion. 

''Long before Monsieur Bremaud — a platform magne- 
tizer, as the scientific world called him — thought he had 
discovered \\\\s fascinaiion and even named it after himself 
He operated in the following manner. After having at the 
beginning of one of his entertainments —which at that 
time attracted not only all Paris, but people of every part 
of the world — operated on his own subjects, and thereby 
impressed the imagination of his audience, he would Inquire 
if any of the spectators were willing to submit themselves to 
an experiment. Several would come forward. He would 
choose one, and make him lean on his hands so as to 
weaken the muscular power. Both hypnotlzer and patient 
remained standing on the platform in front of the audience, 
now thoroughly interested in the struggle between one who 
strove to master and one who would not submit. The 
patient's evervatlon under the influence of the numberless 
eyes fixed on him soon reached Its climax. The fascinator 
would then suddenly call out, " Look at me! " upon which 
the candidate-subject would draw himself up and gaze 
Intently into the operator's eyes. The latter would then 
look down at the hapless victim with round, glaring eyes, 
and in the majority of cases succeed In fascinating the 
subject. No doubt some individuals would feign to 
succumb, thereby deceiving the operator, and when they 



128 HYPNOTISM. 

quitted the seance would not fail to declare he was a 
charlatan. But the whole exhibition was well managed, 
and it would be unjust to refer a general rule from some 
particular exceptions." 

''Fascination thus made its way. By the constant sight 
of gigantic advertisement, the attention of scientific men 
was aroused, they went to see the performance, were 
at first incredulous, then doubted, and finally took up the 
subject and studied it ; striving to make it scientific and 
useful as a curative means. It no longer remains the 
object of morbid curiosity, but becomes a therapeutic 
process that doctors avail themselves of to alleviate 
suffering." 

Vincent says of all the different methods employed, 
perhaps none have the followers that the simple method 
of fascination can boast of 

"The professional operators have been very fond of 
fascination and in this particular method, which is called, 
amongst other names, "Imitation," "Fascination," and 
"Donatism." — this last from Donato, who made great 
use of it. — In this system, the operator fixes his eyes 
on the eyes of the subject, and after a short time the 
subject follows every movement made by the magnetist. 
If he hfts an arm, the subject does the same ; if he kneels, 
the subject kneels; and so on ad infinitum. Here fascination 
was the form of hypnosis induced. The same state can be 
obtained by opening the eyes of a hypnotized person wheit 
the hypnotist, by gazing fixedly hito his snbjecf s eyes, will 
be able to obtain these imitative movements. If the finger, 
or the mounted top of a walking stick, be placed before 
the subject's eyes, he will follow the finger, or the stick, as 
the case may be ; in all this it is clearly stiggestion, which 



HYPNOTISM. 129 

is the basis of ^he phenomena. The subject will not 
perform any of these imitative actions, nor will he be 
' fascinated ' by the stick, unless he fully understands that 
it is expected of him. In very many ways, by a look or 
a movement, the hypnotist is often able to convey a 
suggestion to his subject which will be quite as potent as 
if made by means of speech. This extreme susceptibility 
to suggestion is either not known or is overlooked by 
the ordinary public, and the professional hypnotizers often 
avail themselves of this common ignorance to entertain 
those who attend their exhibitions." 

The latter form of fascination was used for the first time 
by Donato, has since been described by Bremaud, also has 
been applied by Hansen. Donato, who operates especially 
upon young people proceeds in the following manner: 

He asks the subject to lay the palms of his hands upon 
his own, stretched out horizontally, and to press downward 
with all his might. The subject's whole attention and all 
his physical force is absorbed in this manoeuvre. All his 
innervation, so to speak, is concentrated in this muscular 
effort, and so the distraction of his thoughts is prevented. 
"The magnetizer," says Bremaud, according to Donato, 
' ' looks at him sharply, quickly, and closely, directing him 
by gesture (and by word if need be), to look at him as 
fixedly as he is able. Then the operator recedes or walks 
around the patient, keeping his eyes upon him and attract- 
ing his gaze, while the subject follows him as if fascinated, 
with his eyes wide open, and unable to take them from the 
operator's face. If once carried away by the first experi- 
ment, the simple fixation of the gaze suffices to make the 
subject follow. It is no longer necessary to make him first 
place his hand on the operator's," 



I30 HYPNOTISM, 

Professor Bernheim says, *' When we have to do with 
simple suggestion by gesture, when the magnetizer fixes 
his eyes upon the subject's, the latter understands that he 
must keep his eyes fixed and must follow the operator 
everywhere. He believes that he is drawn toward him. 
It is a suggestive psychical fascination and not physical 
in the least. I have seen the experiment successful with 
the best somnambulists when they did not understand 
the meaning of the operator's gesture. In such cases, 
the experiment may be made to succeed by imitation, 
if the subject has seen it performed successfully in his 
presence upon some one else. This then is suggestion 
by imitation." 

"Among subjects thus fascinated, some submit to 
the influence without hypnotic sleep, just as do those who 
are hypnotized by another method. They are susceptible 
to suggestion in the working condition. They remember 
afterward what they have done ; they do not know why 
they were unable to keep from following and gazing at 
the operator. Others remember nothing at all after they 
are waked by blowing upon the eyes or by a simple 
word. They do not know what has happened ; they have 
been in a somnambulistic condition with their eyes open. 
In this somnambulistic fascination, catalepsy and hallucina- 
tion may be induced. In these same subjects, catalepsy 
or hallucination may often be induced by a simple word, 
a gesture, or a position communicated to them without any 
previous fascination." 

"The awaking may be spontaneous. Subjects who 
sleep lightly at the first hypnotization, sometimes have 
a tendency to awake quickly. It is necessary to hold 
their eyelids closed, or to say from time to time, 'sleep,' 



HYPNOTISM. 131 

in order to keep them under the influence. The habit 
of sleep is very soon acquired by the organism. The 
subject no longer wakes while the operator remains at 
his side ; he may awake as soon as the operator's 
influence is withdrawn. The majority of subjects left to 
themselves sleep on for several minutes, for half an hour, 
or even for one or more hours. I allowed one of my 
subjects to sleep fifteen hours, another eighteen." 

The Abbe Faria, in about 18 14, began to study hyp- 
notism, and it must be admitted that this development is 
very interesting and contains more than the germs to the 
whole of Braid's theory, and of all the theories concerning 
the power of imagination or suggestion in consequence 
of the same. 

The phenomena observed by Faria in his subjects do 
not differ in the main points from that of Puysegur and the 
other operators or their somnambulistic subjects, and this 
is the case especially in regard to the complete loss 
of memory about everything on awakening. 

Faria said, "During the somnambulistic sleep the eyes 
are as a rule closed. There are, nevertheless, somnambu- 
lists who sleep with open eyes, and my experience has 
proved to me that these latter are somnambulists by 
nature." Their open eyes remain fixed and immovable, 
and they seem to be perfectly sightless. There are a few 
who move their eyes and see what occurs in their sur- 
roundings, still without being able to have any recollection 
whatever when they are awakened. 

The Abbe Faria method was very simple. After placing 
his subject in a comfortable position, in not too bright a 
light, he concentrated the attention of his subject as much 
as possible, by having him look at some object on the 



132 HYPNOTISM, 

wall — way up above his head. After several minutes of the 
most perfect silence, he would suddenly shout in a loud 
commanding voice the word "Sleep." In very many 
cases this was sufficient to attain the desired result. 

As an advocate of the identity of somnambulism and 
normal sleep, Faria made a study of lethargy ; and he was 
one of the first who in a few lines described this interesting 
condition, which Azam also investigated. This is the state 
in which we nearly always find a certain double individ- 
uality of the person. It must be remembered that Faria 
claimed positively that there were no dangers attached 
when using his methods, and that subjects thus caused to 
sleep and brought under influence will by no means suffer 
any unpleasant effects. 

Several authorities claim that the magnet has in some 
cases the power of hypnotizing. This may be true ; but 
many of the best known hypnotizers have been unable 
to find any trace of such influence. However, it may be 
that in a certain few abnormal cases the magnet has 
this virtue ; but it seems a more natural hypothesis to 
attribute these few hypnosis to suggestion, an element 
which enters into every method, and which is so subtle 
in its action that it is almost impossible in these cases 
for an operator to state positively that it has been 
entirely avoided. 

Braid has left on record an experiment of his, which 
bears on the supposed influence of the magnet. A lady 
told him that she could not endure a magnet brought 
near her, and that it always had the most profound 
influence on her, and so it had when she knew of its 
proximity. But Braid, in order to test the nature of 
this influence, sat near to her on one occasion for half 



HYPNOTISM 133 

an hour, with a powerful magnet concealed in his 
pocket, and as he expected, found that no effect was 
produced. However, many hypnotists still believe in 
the power of the magnet. 

In fact the belief of the action of the magnet on 
human beings is very old. The Magi of the East used 
it for curing diseases, and the Chinese and Hindoos 
used it long ago. Albertus Magnus, in the thirteenth 
century, and later, Paracelsus Von Helmart and Kercher 
also used it, as well as the astronomer and ex-Jesuit 
Hell, of Vienna, at the end of the eighteenth century. 
We have seen that Mesmer also used it at first. Even 
then, many doctors also used it. Reil, the well-known 
physician, used the magnet therapeutically; in 1845, 
Reichenbach asserted that some sensitive person had 
peculiar sensations when they were touched by ii magnet. 
He also said that many saw light — the so-called Odd 
light. 

Carl Saxtus gives the following as his method ; and as it 
is one of the easiest methods, we give it. Mr. Saxtus has 
been wonderfully successful in hypnotism, as is shown in 
his book called "Hypnotism." Price of this book by 
registered mail is $2.50. ' 

" If I wish to hypnotize a class, or to try a large 
number, I use a zinc button, with a copper wire through 
the centre, which I request the individual to hold in his 
closed right hand, resting the hand on the right knee. In 
the left hand, which he holds open, I place a small crystal, 
set in horn, that is polished to a shining black, the left arm 
and hand resting partly on the chest. The subject is then 
requested to gaze continually and intently on the crystal 
prism, and not to undertake any motions whatever, keeping 



134 HYPNOTISM. 

the same position in which I place him, and to fix his 
whole attention on sleep. After a lapse of seven or eight 
minutes I commence to make passes over the subject; at 
the end of three or four manipulations I command him to 
close his eyes ; I perform one or - two passes more, from the 
head downward to the knee ; placing my left^ hand on his 
forehead, then press a certain place with my thumb, at the 
same time pressing with my right hand the subject's 
thumb." 

"Another very simple, yet effective method, when 
only hypnotizing one person, is to let the subject gaze 
fixedly at a lighted candle for about eight or ten minutes, 
hold the candle at such a height that it requires consider- 
able effort on the part of the subject to look up to it. The 
subject must not wink the eyelids any more than is abso- 
lutely necessary, and must draw the breath deep and in 
a measured time. The subject is told before commencing 
to hold the mouth open about one inch, with the tongue 
curved, the tip resting parallel with the lower teeth. At 
the end of about three minutes I raise my left hand over 
the back part of the subject's head, and with my fingers 
spread far apart, make two or three passes downward along 
the spinal nerves, after which I command the subject to 
close the eyes. I then perform one or two more manipula- 
tions until full sleep is secured." 

Professor Bernheim's method is the following, as 
given in his own book, "Suggestive Therapeutics." 

"I begin by saying to the patient that I beheve 
benefit is to be derived from the use of suggestive 
therapeutics, that it is possible to cure or at least to 
relieve him by hypnotism ; that there is nothing either 
hurtful or strange about it ; that it is an ordi?iajy 



HYPNOTISM, 135 

or torpor which can be induced in everyone, and that 
this quiet, beneficial condition restores the equiUbrium 
of the nervous system. If necessary, I hypnotize one 
or two subjects in his presence, in order to show him 
that there is nothing painful in this condition, and that 
it is not accompanied with any unusual sensation. 
When I have thus banished from his mind the idea 
of magnetism and the somewhat mysterious fear that 
attaches to that unknown condition, above all when he 
has seen patients cured or benefited by the means in 
question he is no longer suspicious, but gives himself up, 
then I say, 'Look at me, and think of nothing but sleep ; 
your eyelids begin to feel heavy ; your eyes are tired ; 
they begin to wink ; they are getting moist ; you cannot 
see distinctly ; they are closed.' Some patients close their 
eyes and are asleep immediately. With others, I have to 
repeat again and yet again, and lay more stress on what I 
say, and even make gestures. It makes little difference 
what sort of gesture is made. I generally hold two fingers 
of my right hand before the patient's eyes and ask him to 
look at them, or I sometimes pass both hands several 
times before his eyes, or persuade him to fix his eyes upon 
mine, endeavoring at the same time to concentrate his 
attention upon the idea of sleep. I keep saying, * Your 
lids are closing, you cannot open them again ; your arms 
leel heavy, so do your legs ; you cannot feel anything ; 
your hands are 'motionless ; you see nothing, you are 
going to sleep. And I then add in a commanding tone to 
'Sleep.' This word often turns the balance. The eyes 
close and the patient sleeps or is at least influenced." 

*' I use the word sleep in order to obtain as far as 
possible over the patient a suggestive influence which shall 



136 HYPNOTISM. 

bring about sleep or a state closely approaching it, for 
sleep properly so called does not always occur. If the 
patient has no inclination to sleep and shows no drow- 
siness, I take care to say that sleep is not essential ; that 
the hypnotic influence, whence comes the benefit, may 
exist without sleep ; that many patients are hypnotized 
although they do not know it." 

"If the patient does not shut his eyes or keep them 
shut I do not require them to be fixed on mine, or on my 
fingers, for any length of time, for it sometimes happens 
that they remain wide open indefinitely, and instead of the 
idea of sleep being conceived, only a rigid fixation of the 
eyes results. In this case, closure of the eyes by the 
operator succeeds better. After keeping them fixed one 
or two minutes, I push the eyelids down, or stretch them 
slowly over the eyes, gradually closing them more and 
more and so imitating the process of natural sleep. Finally 
I keep them closed, repeating the suggestion, ^ Your lids 
are stuck together; you cannot open them. The need 
of sleep becomes greater and greater ; you can no longer 
resist. ' I lower my voice gradually, repeating the command, 
' Sleep,' and it is very seldom that more than three minutes 
pass before sleep or some degree of hypnotic influence is 
obtained. It is sleep by suggestion — a type of sleep which 
I insinuate into the brain." 

' ' Passes or gazing at the eyes or fingers of the operator 
are only useful in concentrating the attention. They are 
not absolutely essential." 

' ' With some patients success is mor^ readily obtained 
by acting quietly ; with others quiet suggestion has no 
effect. With these it is better to be abrupt, to restrain 
with an authoritative voice the inclination to laugh, or the 



HYPNOTISM. 137 

weak and involuntary resistance which this manoeuvre may 
provoke. 

" Many persons are influenced at the first sitting, others 
not until the second or third. After being hypnotized 
once or twice, they are speedily influenced. It often is 
enough to look at such a patient, to spread the fingers 
before the eyes, to say, 'Sleep,' and in a second or two, 
sometimes instantly, the eyes close and all the phenomena 
of sleep are present. It is only after a certain number 
of hypnotizations, generally a small number, that the 
patients acquire the .iptitude for going to sleep quickly." 

"It occasionally happens that I influence seven or 
eight persons successively, and almost instantly. Then 
there are others who are refractory or more difficult to 
influence. I only try for a few minutes. A second or 
third trial often brings the hypnosis which is not obtained 
at first." 



38 HYPNOTISM. 



CHAPTER IX. 

HYPNOTISM. 

Telepathic suggestion — Hallucination — Auto-suggestion — Post- 
hypnotic suggestion. 

The first proposition is, that there is inherent in mankind 
the power to communicate thoughts to others independently 
of objective means of communication. The truth of this 
general proposition has been so thoroughly demonstrated 
by the experiments of members of the London (England) 
Society for "Psychical Research," that time and space will 
not be wasted in its further elucidation. For a full treat- 
ment of the subject the reader is referred to "Phantasms 
of the Living," in which the results of the researches of that 
society are ably set forth by Messrs. Edmund Gurney, 
F. W. H. Meyers, and Frank Podmore. It is hardly 
necessary to remind the reader that the methods of 
investigation employed by these able and indefatigable 
laborers in the field of psychical research are purely scien- 
tific, and their works are singularly free from manifestations 
of prejudice or of unreasoning scepticism on the one hand, 
and of credulity on the other. It is confidently assumed, 
therefore, that the power of telepathic communication is 
as thoroughly established as is any fact in nature. 

Hudson says: "Telepathy is primarily the communion 



HYPNOTISM. 139 

of su1)jective mind, or rather it is the normal means 
of communication between subjective minds. The reason 
of the apparent rarity of its manifestations is, that it requires 
exceptional conditions to bring its results above the thresh- 
hold of consciousness. There is every reason to believe 
that the souls, or subjective minds of men can, and do 
habitually hold communion with one another when not 
the remotest perception of the fact is communicated to 
the objective intelligence. It may be that such communion 
is not general among men ; but it is certain that it is 
held between those who, from any cause, are en rapport. 
The facts recorded by the Society for Psychical Research 
demonstrate that proposition. Thus, near relatives are 
oftenest found to be in communion, as is shown by the 
comparative frequency of telepathic communication between 
relatives, giving warning of sickness or of death. Next in 
frequency, are communications between intimate friends. 
Communications of this character between comparative 
strangers are apparently rare. Of course, the only means 
we have of judging of these things is by the record of those 
cases in which the communications have been brought to 
the objective consciousness of the percipients. From these 
cases it seems fair to infer that the subjective minds 
of those who are deeply interested in one another are in 
habitual communion, especially when the personal interest 
or welfare of either agent or percipient is at stake. Be 
this as it may, it is certain that telepathic communication 
can be established at will by the conscious eifbrt of one 
or both of the parties, even between strangers. The 
experiments of the Society above-named, have demon- 
strated this fact. It will be assumed, therefore, for the 
purpose of this argument, that telepathic communion can 



I40 HYPNOTISM. 

be established between two subjective minds at the will 
of either. The fact may not be perceived by the subject, 
for it may not rise above the threshold of his subjective 
consciousness. But for therapeutic purposes, it is not 
necessary that the patient should know, objectively, that 
anything is being done for him. Indeed, it is often 
better he should not know it 

"In ordinary practice two methods are used: First, 
this method is by passivity on the part of the patient 
and mental suggestion by the healer. Second, is by pas- 
sivity on the part of the patient and oral suggestion by the 
healer. That is to say, ''the oral suggestionist often 
unconsciously telepaths a mental suggestion to the subjec- 
tive mind of the patient. If he thoroughly believes the 
truth of his own suggestion, the telepathic effect is sure 
to follow, and always to the manifest advantage of the 
patient. This is why it is that in all works on hyp- 
notism and mesmerism the value and importance of self 
confidence on the part of the healer, or, in other words, 
belief in his own suggestion, is so strenuously insisted 
upon. Practice and experience have demonstrated the 
fact, but no writer on the subject attempts to give a 
scientific explanation of it. But when it is known that 
the telepathy is the normal method of communication 
between subjective minds, and that in healing by mental 
processes it is constantly employed, consciously or uncon- 
sciously, to the persons, the explanation is obvious." 

You can scarcely talk with a family, in which some 
member of it has not had some such experience as will be 
related. 

These telepathic impressions, may occur in the waking 
state at all times of day. They may occur as dreams in 



HYPNOTISM. 141 

sleep. They frequently occur just as, or after one has 
retired, before falling asleep. 

We will cite one case, which James R. Cocke, M. D., 
speaks of in his book, "Hypnotism." 

"It occurred in the winter of 1877, to Mrs. E., a 
Protestant Irish woman, sixty years of age. Her reputation 
was good, and she was known to be a truthful woman. 
She was well educated and unusually intelligent. 

"One morning, at breakfast, she told us, that her aunt, 
a Mrs. B, had died the night before in the City of Cork, 
Ireland. She stated that she saw her aunt, described her 
death-scene, and heard her call her, Mrs. E., by name. 

"She saw an old-fashioned clock in her aunt's room, 
and the hands pointed to i : 15 A M. At three o'clock that 
afternoon, the lady received a cablegram informing her 
of the death of her aunt, confirming the hour of death as 
seen by Mrs. E. 

" Subsequendy, a letter received by Mrs. E., stated that 
the dying words of the aunt were repeated calls for her. 

"This same lady, so she told me, had, on previous 
occasions, experienced similar telepathic phenomena." 

''Telepathy^'' is comparatively a new word — at least in 
the sense in which it is now frequently used. By telepathy 
I mean the influence which one person, by his will or 
mental suggestions and without any material media of 
communication, may exert over another at a distance. 
When a person has once put another into what is called 
hypnotic sleep, he need not always have recourse to 
passes or personal contact to hypnotize the subject again. 
The look of the operator, his will even, without the look, 
may exert the same influence upon the subject. This 
influence is also at times effective when the subject is 



142 HYPNOTISM. 

entirely ignorant of the will of the operator, and even 
when they are at a considerable distance apart, in different 
rooms, with closed doors between them. 

The absolute truth of this statement has been abund- 
antly verified time and again, by scores of the most careful 
and reliable operators. It is enough here to say, that no 
one who has fairly examined the subject has any doubt 
about the truth of the above statement, made more than 
sixty years ago to the French Academy of Medicine. 
Now, operators are not all equally effective, and are not 
always equally so. The same is true of subjects. The 
simple fact, however, is that some operators can and do 
influence some subjects at a distance ; and this is not 
explained on any known sensual basis. As soon as this is 
admitted, then the question of distance — a yard or a rod, 
a furlong or a mile, a mile or a thousand miles, is not a 
question of theory, but oi fact. 

And the facts are that persons who are not operator 
and subject in any such sense as those names are used 
in hypnotic connection, can and do, at will, communicate 
intelligently with each other telepathically. This is not 
saying that they can at any time, and under all circum- 
stances, communicate ; nor that their communications are 
full and entirely satisfactory. They do, however, at 
pre-arranged times, convey and receive consciously well- 
defined, intelligent, and useful communications. There 
are, too, certain persons — not a great many, however — 
who can, whenever it is desired, call certain other per- 
sons' attention, telepathically. This is frequently done. 

The subject of telepathy, which properly embraces all 
methods of thought transference which does not mainly 
employ the usual mechanical means and the usual appeal 



HYPNOTISM. 143 

to the senses, is comparatively a new study which promises 
great rewards to the patient and successful student. 

Sense delusion is the definition to "Hallucination" 
when used in connection with hypnotism. It is the per- 
ception of an object where in reality there is nothing. 

We observe numerous hallucinations in hypnosis. 
Hallucinations of sight are more easily caused when the 
eyes are closed ; the subjects then see objects and per- 
sons with their eyes shut, as in dreams. They think, at 
the same time, that their eyes are open, just as we are 
aware in dreams that our eyes are shut. Dr. Moll, says : 

"If we wish to cause a delusion of the sense of sight at 
the moment of opening the eyes, it is necessary to make 
the suggestion quickly, lest the act of opening the eyes 
should awake the subject. I advise the use of fixed 
attention while the suggestion is being made, so that 
the subject may not awaken himself by looking about. 
The other organs of sense may also be deluded. I knock 
on the table and give the idea that cannon are being 
fired. I blow with the bellows and make the suggestion 
that an engine is steaming up. A hallucination of hearing 
something, e. g. the piano, is produced without the aid 
of any external stimulus. In the same way smell, taste, 
and touch may be the senses deceived. It is well known 
that hypnotics will drink water, or even ink, for wine, will 
eat onions for pears, will smell ammonia for eau de 
Cologne. In these cases, the expression of face induced 
by the suggested perception corresponds so perfectly to it 
that a better effect would scarcely be produced if the real 
article were used. Tell the subject he has taken snuff, he 
sneezes. All varieties of the sense of touch, of pressure, 
of temperature, of pain, can be influenced. I tell a person 



144 HYPNOTISM. 

that he is standing on ice. He feels cold at once. He 
trembles, his teeth chatter, and he wraps himself in his coat. 
It appears to me that the senses of touch and taste are 
the most easily and frequently influenced. For example, 
the suggestion of a bitter taste takes effect much sooner 
than the suggestion of a delusion of sight or hearing. It 
is true that the subjects often account to themselves for 
the delusion ; they taste the bitterness, but say at the same 
time that it must be a subjective sensation, since they have 
nothing bitter in their mouths. 

*' Sense delusions can be suggested in anyway. We 
can tell the subject that he sees a bird. We can suggest 
the same thing by gesture, for example, by pretending to 
hold a bird in the hand particularly after the subject has 
received some hypnotic training. The chief point is that 
the subject should understand what is intended by the 
gesture. 

"Naturally, several organs of sense can be influenced 
by suggestion at the same time. I tell some one, 'here 
is a rose ' ; he not only sees, but smells and feels the rose. 
I pretend to give another subject a dozen oysters ; he 
eats them at once, without further suggestion. The sug- 
gestion here affects the sight, feeling, and taste at the same 
time. In many cases, the muscular sense is influenced 
in a striking manner by such suggestion. I give a sub- 
ject a glass of wine to drink ; he lifts the pretended glass 
to his lips, and leaves a space between hand and mouth 
as he would if he held a real glass. I am not obliged to 
define the delusion for each separate sense ; the subject 
does this spontaneously for himself The subject in this 
way completes most suggestions by a process resembling 
the indirect suggestion." 



HYPNOTISM. 145 

All sorts of hallucinatory Impressions may be produced 
upon the sense of hearing as well as upon the sense of 
sight, and taste. The subject' s hearing may be made 
abnormally acute, or he may be made to hear things 
which do not exist. This peculiar sub-conscious condition, 
when not interfered with by suggestion, renders the sense 
of hearing peculiarly, nay, pathologically acute. 

A hypnotized subject is much more sensitive to music. 
It has for him a deeper meaning than for the normal mind. 
There is, indeed, yet unexplored a vast field for experi- 
mentation in this direction. The peculiar effect of music 
on hypnotized subjects is yet unexplained. 

The fact that music can produce remarkable effects on 
hypnotized subjects gives to the subjective consciousness 
a psychological importance which it has never occupied 
before, and undoubtedly the future will prove that this field 
is rich with yet undiscovered treasures. 

Many sensations, many vague memories of some forgot- 
ten day, will be brought up from the depths and recesses 
of this wonderful land of dreams and will be studied, and 
will enrich colder thought with radiant poetic gems. 

Hallucinations and delusions of taste and smell in a 
hypnotized subject can also be produced by suggestion, 
but they possess no especial interest. The power of speech 
may be wholly abolished or partially inhibited, and certain 
words will be forgotten at command while the hypnotic 
state lasts. Also the memory of a printed page or the 
memory of certain letters may be forgotten. 

I have shown that hallucination may act upon the five 
senses of the body as well as upon the emotions when a 
patient is hypnotized. 

AuTO-SuGGESTiON. — Perhaps the best definition of 



146 HYPNOTISM. 

Auto-Suggestion or Auto-Hypnosis Is that self predomin- 
ates over all else. No suggestion can quite rid the body 
of the predominate self or drive the ideas away from the 
brain, that are persisted in, when not under the influence 
of hypnosis. Therefore much harm is done— and nearly 
every case where hypnosis fails to give at least relief — is 
caused by auto-suggestions as will readily be seen from the 
following cases which are cited by the best known authority 
in the world. 

Auto-suggestion is now recognized as a factor in hyp- 
notism by all followers of the Nancy school. Professor 
Bernheim mentions it as an obstacle in the way of the cure 
of some of his patients. One case that he mentions was 
that of a young girl suffering from a tibio-torsal sprain. 
" I tried to hypnotize her," says Bernheim, "she gave her- 
self up to it with bad grace, saying that it would do no 
good. I succeeded, however, in putting her into a deep 
enough sleep two or three times. But the painful con- 
tracture persisted ; she seemed to take a malicious delight 
in proving to the other patients in the service that it did 
no good, that she always felt worse. ^- ^ ^ 
The inrooted idea, the Mncoiiscious auto-suggestion, is such 
that nothing could call It up again. When the treatment 
was begun, she seemed to be convinced that hypnotism 
could not cure her. It is this Idea, so deeply rooted in 
her brain, which neutralizes our efforts and her own wish to 
be cured." 

Another one of Professor Bernheim' s cases is the 
following : 

' ' I recently had to treat a young woman who was hypo- 
chondriacal. Among other troubles she had a violent pain 
in the epigastrium, which she believed to be connected with 



HYPNOTISM. ' 147 

uterine cancer, although she had repeatedly been told that 
there was no lesion there. I succeeded in hypnotizing her 
often enough, and sometimes even in obtaining a profound 
sleep. I hypnotized her for ten days ; by energetic sug- 
gestion, I succeeded in quieting the pain. Upon waking, 
she was obliged to confess she had no more, or scarcely any 
pain. But she hastened to add that the pain would cer- 
tainly return, and in fact, it did come back, involuntarily 
evoked by her diseased imagination. ' ' 

With these sort of patients, auto-suggestion is stronger 
than a suggestion from some one else. They listen to their 
inner feelings, they call them up ; they are in relationship 
only with themselves ; they are auto-suggestionists. 

Dr. Moll, says: "Auto-suggestions are not uncommon 
as pathological incidents. Dread of open spaces is nothing 
but an auto-suggestion. The patient in this case is pos- 
sessed by the idea that he cannot step across some open 
space ; no reasoning is of avail here. The patient acknow- 
ledges its justice without permitting it to influence him, 
because his anto-suggestion is too pow^erful. As a rule, 
logic is for the most part powerless over these auto- 
suggestions. Many hysterical paralyses are likewise auto- 
suggestions ; thus, a patient cannot move his legs because 
he is convinced that movement is impossible. If this con- 
viction can be shaken, movement is at once practicable." 

"Auto-suggestion may be called up by some external 
cause ; this may affect the person from outside, and thus 
induce auto-suggestion. Charcot referred some isolated 
transmatic paralysis to some such originating mechanism. 
According to this view a violent blow on the arm, following 
on certain disturbances of sensibility, may produce in the 
person concerned a conviction that he cannot move his arm. 



148 HYPNOTISM. 

As the conviction was called up by a blow, this case stands 
somewhere between external suggestion and auto-suggestion. 
We will call all cases in which the auto-suggestion did not 
arise spontaneonsly, but was the secondary result of some- 
thing else, such as a blow, indirect suggestion ; as opposed 
to direct suggestion, which arouses a certain idea immedi- 
ately, of which I have given an example. It is, besides, 
not always necessary that there should be a conscious 
mental act in suggestion ; individuality and habit sometimes 
replace this, and play a great part in the training of the 
subject, of which we have shown above. For another 
example, if some external sign, such as a blow on the arm, 
has several times, by means of a conscious mental act, pro- 
duced the auto-suggestion that the arm is paralyzed, then 
the auto-suggestion may repeat itself later mechanically at 
every blow without any conscious thought about the effect 
of the blow." 

One can induce the hypnotic state upon himself by the 
exercise of the same faculties which produce it when it is 
brought about by the suggestion of another. 

Dr. Cocke, says: "A number of my subjects will pass 
into a deep trance and remain so for a period of time rang- 
ing from five minutes to two hours, if they look at a bright 
object, a bed of coals, or at smooth running water. They 
have the ability to resist this state or to bring it at will. 
That this power of auto-hypnotism is exercised by nearly 
every one I am quite sure. Who does not look at a tiny 
picture, and in the minute face see again reflected the 
beaming countenance, life-size of some dear one. In matter 
of fact. Dr. Moll, says: "It is possible that some states 
of sleep, which are generally considered pathological, belong 
to auto-hypnosis. " Post-hypnotic suggestion, means that 



HYPNOTISM. 149 

a patient will carry out any Instructions given him when In 
a hypnotic sleep, (by the doctor) after he awakens ; he will 
do the act apparently unconscious of having received any 
suggestion from the operator. Perhaps, the best way to 
explain this, will be by citing cases where the operator and 
patient are both used to the post-hypnotic suggestions. 

Dr. Moll, says : "For this purpose, I will choose some 
action Induced by post-hypnotic suggestion," and will sup- 
pose It to be a case of hypnosis without subsequent loss 
of memory. 

**Here Is an analogous case In waking life. I give a 
letter to X, who called on me, and ask him to post it on 
his way home. If he passes a letter-box. This he does. 

* ' I now give exactly the same commission to Y, who Is 
In a hypnotic state, without subsequent loss of memory. 

" In both cases my commission is executed. Now, the 
question Is, what Is the difference between the two cases ? In 
the case of Y, one circumstance may strike us, i. e., that he 
did the act without or perhaps against his will. 

* ' The fact that Y posted the letter without being willing 
to do so, does not distinguish his case from X's. X walked 
home with Z, and talked all the way. He passed a letter- 
box, and though he continued to talk, and apparently did 
not notice the box, he mechanically put the letter into it. 
Later, It occurred to him that he had a letter to post ; he 
had a faint recollection of having done It. He could, how- 
ever, convince himself of the fact by feeling in his pocket 
for the letter. We see, then, that he executed the commis- 
sion without conscious will. 

"It would be more striking if X should do some such 
action against his will. In the action described, this was 
not the case. He would not have executed the commission 



I50 HYPNOTISM. 

if his will had not consented. Also, he would have 
remembered the action if his will had opposed it. There 
must always be consciousness when the will is exerted to 
prevent something. There must be an idea of the action 
to be performed. What is striking in post-hypnotic sug- 
gestion is exactly the fact that it is carried out against the 
will, in which case the subject -of course knows what is to 
be done, and has an idea of it. It is this idea which causes 
a post-hypnotic action to be carried out in spite of the will. 

* ' The question now is whether we can find an analogy 
to this in waking life ; whether an idea can in this case 
cause a motor or other effect in spite of the will. The 
answer must be, * Very commonly.' 

"We saw, when talking of suggestion in the waking 
state, that an idea is sometimes enough to cause an action 
or a particular state in spite of the will. This is a common 
occurrence. We will suppose that A, has lost a dear friend 
or relative. A is, in consequence, sad and depressed, and 
cannot refrain from tears. Months pass, and he grows calm, 
but when the anniversary of the death arrives, he falls again 
into the same state of mental excitement and tears, which 
he cannot conquer. The vivid idea has been enough to 
throw him, against his will, into a certain state. 

"A person who stammers is in the same case. Alone 
at home he can speak quite well, but a stranger comes in 
and he begins to stammer. He stammers because he 
thought he should stammer, and his will is powerless both 
over the thought and the stammering. We see the same 
sort of thing constantly, and certain states of illness are 
induced merely by a vivid expectation of them ; they then 
come on in spite of the will. Accordingly, it is not astonish- 
ing that a post-hypnotic suggestion should succeed against 
the subject's will. 



HYPNOTISM. 151 

'* The post-hypnotic movements and actions carried out 
in spite of the will — or, to speak more exactly, in spite 
of the wish — have a great likeness to the instinctive move- 
ments well known in psychology, which are often made to 
satisfy a pleasure which follows from the act. Such instinc- 
tive movements are entirely independent of the will ; 
they take place in spite of the wish." 

All post-hypnotic suggestions are merely apparently 
forgotten between waking and fulfillment, as will be seen in 
the following cases cited by Professor Bernheim. 

* ' I suggest to D , during hypnotic sleep that upon 

waking he should rub his sore thigh and leg, that he should 
then get out of bed, walk to the window and return to bed. 
He performed all these acts without suspecting that a 
command had been given to him while he was sleeping. 

' ' I suggested to S , on one occasion, that on waking 

he should put on his hat, bring it to me in the next room, 
take it off his head and put it on to mine. This he did 
without knowing why. 

**On another occasion when my colleague, M. Char- 
pentier, was present, I suggested to him, when he first 
fell asleep, that as soon as he waked, he should take my 
colleague's umbrella, which was lying on the bed, open 
it, and walk twice up and down the piazza on which 
the room opened. It was some time afterward when I 
waked him. Before his eyes were open, we went quickly 
out of the room, so that the suggestion might not be 
recalled by our presence. We soon saw him coming 
with the umbrella in his hand, but not open (in spite 
of the suggestion). He walked twice up and down the 
corridor. I said to him, 'What are you doing?' He 
answered, ' I am taking the air. ' ' Why, are you warm ? ' 



152 HYPNOTISM. 

*No, it is only my idea ; I occasionally walk up and down 
out here. * What is the umbrella for ? ' 'It belongs to 
M. Charpentier. ' ' What ! I thought it was mine ; it looks 
something like mine ; I shall take it back to the place I 
took it from.' 

*'One morning, at eleven o'clock, I suggested to 

C , that an hour after midday he would be seized by an 

idea he could not resist, namely, to walk along Stanislaus 
Street and return, twice. At one o'clock, I saw him go 
out into the street, walk along from one end to the other, 
return, and stop, Hke a lounger, under the windows. But 
he did not do it twice, perhaps because he did not 
understand the second part of the suggested command, 
perhaps because he resisted it. 

"On one occasion, during X 's hypnotic sleep, I 

suggested the following act : ' When you awake, you will 
go to my office, and you will write on a sheet of paper, ' I 
have slept very well ; ' you will place a cross after your 
name.' 

*' I waked him in a quarter of an hour. He went to the 
office, wrote the phrase I had put into his mind, signed it, 
and made a cross after his name. ' What does this cross 
mean, ' I asked. ' Why ! ' he replied, ' upon my word I do 
not know ; I made it without thinking. ' The next day, I 
made him write another sentence with two crosses after his 
name ; the day after, his name with a star after it. On the 
following day, I suggested to him while he was asleep, 
' When you wake up, you will write, * I will go to M. Lie- 
bault while you are away, ' and you will sign it, but you will 

make a mistake. Instead of signing your name X , you 

will sign mine, Bernheim, then you will see you have made 
a mistake, and you will rub out mine and put yours 



HYPNOTISM. 153 

instead.' This he did when he woke up, and seemed very 
much puzzled by his error. He made excuses to me, but 
did not suspect that the responsibihty of the mistake did 
not rest with him, and that I had suggested it." 

The effect of the suggestion of post-hypnotic acts is not 
absolutely inevitable. Some patients resist them. The 
desire to carry out the act no doubt is more or less 
imperative, but they resist it to a certain extent. 

The following case shows the struggle and hesitation 
before obeying the idea which- were manifested in the 
patient until the suggestion finally got the upper hand. 

' ' A young hysterical girl was brought to the Medical 
Society, at Nancy, by M. Dumont. She was hypnotized 
and was ordered, when she woke, to take the glass cylinder 
off the gas-burner, over the table, and put it in her pocket 
and take it away when she went. After she was waked, 
she turned timidly toward the table, and seemed confused 
to find everyone looking at her. Then, after some hesita- 
tion, she cHmbed upon her knees on the table. She kneeled 
there about two minutes, apparently ashamed of her posi- 
tion, looked alternately at the people around her and at the 
object which she had to carry away, put out her hand, and 
then, drew it back. Then, suddenly taking off the cylinder, 
she put it in her pocket and hurried away. She would not 
consent to give it up until she had left the room." 

It is strange that suggested actions may be carried out 
not only during the time immediately following the sleep, 
but after a greater or less interval. If a somnambulist is 
made to promise during his sleep that he will come back 
on such and such a day, at such and such an hour, he will 
almost surely return on the day and at the hour, although 
he has no remembrance of his promise when he wakes up. 



154 HYPNOTISM. 

Professor Bernheim cites a case where he made his 
subject say he would come back to him in thirteen days, at 
ten o'clock in the morning. The subject remembered 
nothing when he waked. On the thirteenth day at ten 
o'clock in the morning, he appeared, having come three 
kilometres from his house to the hospital. He had been 
working at the foundries all night, went to bed at six in the 
morning, and woke up at nine with the idea that he had to 
come to the hospital to see me. He told me that he had 
no such idea on the preceding days, and did not know that 
he had to come to see me. It came into his head just at 
the time when he ought to carry it out. 

Thus, a suggestion given during sleep may be dormant 
in the brain, and may not come to consciousness until the 
time previously fixed upon for its appearance. Further 
research is necessary to explain this curious psychological 
fact, and to determine how long a hypnotic suggestion 
may thus remain latent. It goes without saying that all 
somnambulists are not susceptible to suggestions which 
take eftect after a long interval of time. 



HYPNOTISM, 155 



CHAPTER X. 

HYPNOTISM. 

Somnambulism — Arousing Latent Memories, after Waking from a 
Somnambulistic Sleep — The use of Tobacco Cured — Curing 
Drunkenness — The Curing of the Morphia Mania — The dangers 
of Hypnotism and Drugs compared. 

Long ages ago, the word somnambulists was given to 
the people who walked in their sleep. The resemblance 
between hypnotism and somnambulism is so great that 
the name somnabulism is used for both, or at least that 
is the definition given by Richet. Hypnotism is called 
artificial somnambulism, according to Poincelot. Professor 
Bernheim calls somnambulism the seventh degree of hyp- 
notism. Dr. Moll, says: ''There are three stages generally 
distinguished in somnambulism. 

"First. — That In which the sleeper speaks. 

** Second. — That in which he makes all sorts of move- 
ments, but does not leave his chair or bed. 

"Third. — That In which he gets up, walks about and 
performs the most complicated actions." 

"In my experience," Dr. Moll adds: "the first two 
stages are found In persons of sanguine temperament who 
are decidedly not In a pathological condition. It is not yet 
finally decided whether the third state appears under 



156 HYPNOTISM. 

pathological conditions only. From my own experience I 
am inclined to think that it is occasionally observed when 
there is no constitutional weakness, especially in children. 
If we want to show these states we can do it with the 
healthiest subjects." 

Dr. Bernheim says : ''That the functions of relationship, 
which are unconscious or at least but slightly conscious, 
grow more active. The tactile, acoustic and muscular 
senses are gradually aroused. This is known as passive 
somnamhilistic automatism. The subject continues any 
movement communicated to his limbs {motor inertia), 
carries out any acts in relation with the sensory or sensorial 
impression {motor suggestion), reproduces articulate sounds, 
the movements which he sees or hears {automatic imitation), 
and executes orders {automatic obedience).^ ^ 

''Memory and the faculties of the imagination are 
aroused in their turn. This is known as active somnambu- 
listic automatism. The brain is deprived of spontaneity, 
and is accessible to dreams, which differ from ordinary 
dreams, in that the psycho-motor and psycho-sensorial 
phenomena are of an unconscious character. In this state 
there are dreams in which the subject walks about, profes- 
sional, instinctive, and passionate dreams, dreams in which 
memory is revived, intelligent dreams (during which the 
subject performs intelligent acts, writes and plays upon 
the piano, etc.,) and suggested dreams." 

' ' The faculties of co-ordination are imperfectly aroused ; 
the imaginative and instinctive faculties still rule the scene, 
and have the advantage over the first or reasoning faculties. 
This is known as the somnambulistic life. The subject 
appears to be awake, performs his everyday acts, but his 
weakened will and exalted imagination leave him suscepti- 
ble to suggestions and obedient to acts commanded." 



HYPNOTISM. 157 

Chambord says: "That from all observation, and 
from descriptions of the phenomena, we may deduce the 
fact, that active somnambulism, implies the most profound 
influence, the most adranced degree of hypnotism, and the 
most widely separated from the waking condition. All 
the other phenomena, moreover, motor-automatism, motor- 
suggestion, automatic imitation and obedience, are found 
in active somnambulists. The same subject whom we 
hypnotize daily, often reaches only the stage of motor- 
automatism in the first hypnotization ; it is only through 
repeated hypnotizations that he gradually acquires the 
aptitude for carrying out the hallucinations and dreams 
of suggestion. It is then only that amnesia upon waking 
exists ; a proof of more intense psychical modification than 
that of the preceding degrees, in which the subject was 
fully aware of the cause of his catalepsy and retained an 
exact recollection of it. Moreover, the subjects who only 
manifest motor-automatism are not pure automatons ; they 
hear and remember what they have heard when they wake ; 
they often reply to questions ; they try to resist suggestions, 
and struggle against the attitudes or movements which are 
commanded ; consciousness is not destroyed ; the will is 
still alive, but is powerless against the exaggerated auto- 
matic action." 

" Even in active somnambulism, the physical faculties 
are not destroyed ; the somnambulistic subject also resists 
certain suggestions, and refuses to perform certain acts ; he 
reflects before answering certain questions, and carries on 
active intellectual work. Moreover, acts, illusions, and 
post-hypnotic hallucinations commanded during hypnosis, 
are carried out when the subject wakes, when consciousness 
and the faculties of co-ordination have certainly resumed 



158 HYPNOTISM. 

their control. Finally, the manifestations of these same 
phenomena in waking condition in a subject who is compos 
sui, and astonished that he cannot struggle against the 
automatism which dominates him, shows clearly that con- 
sciousness and will may survive all degrees of hypnotism. ' ' 
• Professor Bernheim says again : ' * A somnambulist is 
hypnotized ; I speak to him ; I make him speak ; I make 
him work ; I give him hallucinations ; J wake him in half an 
hour or an hour at the most ; he remembers absolutely 
nothing of what has passed ; he will remember nothing 
spontaneously. Now, nothing is easier than to recall to 
any somnambulist the memory of all the impressions he has 
received in his sleep, and this experiment succeeds in all 
cases of somnambulism. In order to do this I have only to 
say, ■ You will remember everything that has happened, 
everything that you have done during your sleep.' If neces- 
sary, I lay my hand on his forehead to concentrate his 
attention ; he thinks deeply for an instant, without falling 
asleep^ and all the latent memories arise with great pre- 
cision ; he repeats my words as well as his own, relates his 
acts, gestures and hallucinations successively ; nothing is 
forgotten. I have aroused the latent memories by a simple 
affirmation." 

''We see a somnambulist; she goes and comes, obeys 
orders, converses, works, and is entirely conscious. We 
would swear that she is awake. After half an hour's 
active conversation, I suddenly say, ' Wake up. ' She goes 
on talking after she Avakes. She remembers nothing, abso- 
lutely nothing. It is a singular phenomenon. Everything 
is faded from the memory. The nervous force which was 
concentrated, in certain parts of the brain is now diffused 
throughout ; the light being distributed elsewhere, no longer 




Fis:. (4.) Arousing Latent Memories. See Pag^e 158, 
Original Portraltis, Copyrls^ht by M. Young, August, 1899. 



HYPNOTISM. 159 

illumines the preceding impressions ; a new state of con- 
sciousness exists. I put the somnambulist to sleep again ; 
the old state of nervous concentration re-appears and with 
it the old state of consciousness, the faded impressions 
return ; the latent memories revive." 

In somnambulism — ''The most remarkable of these 
acts," says Despine, *'are those which manifest facial 
expression, gestures, and bodily attitudes, imitative acts, 
which are habitually associated with various and indistinct 
feelings, and which are carried out by everyone, although 
they have never been learned. To these acts also belong 
the different inflections which the voice takes under different 
circumstances, and the movements of the head which are 
made by some musicians when they are playing, as well as 
by some of their hearers." 

"Hate, anger, pride, cunning, admiration, etc., bring 
about in all persons who experience them, the same 
muscular contractions, and consequently, a similar expres- 
sion. And this is true, not only of man, but of animals. 
Their various acts, accompHshed by the automatic mechan- 
ism of the nervous centres, are so pre-established by law, 
that they are found to be always identical in all individuals 
submitted to the same exciting causes." 

* * Another effect of this automatic arrangement is seen 
in affectation. It is thought that the phenomena which 
constitute it are voluntary and studied. This is a mistake. 
A person is affected in manner in consequence of an exag- 
gerated facility for following what happens in thought, which 
the automatic nervous organs possess. The voice takes the 
most varied inflection, according to the slightest changes in 
the feelings. The muscles of the face produce the greatest 
variety of contractions. The Hmbs and the body move in a 



i6o HYPNOTISM: 

thousand ways. This disposition is observed especially in 
women." 

Sometimes when a patient is in the somnambulistic 
state treatment can best be obtained by pursuing a slightly 
roundabout way. 

Laurent mentions cases in which persons have been 
weaned from tobacco, not by direct command, but by 
suggesting that the smell of tobacco is very unpleasant, 
and by suggesting that it was slowly and surely poisoning 
them, and that if the patient did not quit using it he would 
die. The effect is generally successful." 

Dr. Moll says: ''In treating patients when in the som- 
nambulist state for the weaning from the tobacco habits, 
I have found it an excellent plan to place the hypnotic 
subject back into the earlier periods of his life ; back into 
the early stage when the habit of using tobacco was 
unknown to him, and to tell him that he must never touch 
the tobacco again ; that he must not smoke or chew^ .or 
do any of those things that he did not do when a boy. 
I would suggest to him that tobacco was harmful to a 
great degree; that he could never be well and use it. 
If you can get the patient to promise that he will not 
use it again, he will not." Promises made when in the 
hypnotized state are seldom broken. It is often difficult to 
get the subject to promise anything, but when successful, 
the cure is assured. 

Again, in many cases It is necessary to hypnotize a 
patient many times before he is really cured of the tobacco 
habit. The success, often depends on the patient's own 
desire. If the subject be determined to smoke when he 
is in his normal condition, it is almost impossible to cure 
him by hypnotic treatment. On the other hand, if he 



HYPNOTISM, i6i 

wishes to be cured, and has faith In the operation, the cure 
is sure. 

Imagination Is a potent factor In both the formation and 
cure of many vile practises. I have seen a few cases of 
very severe suffering in consequence of the sudden aban- 
donment of tobacco, but, if the sufferer, will again be 
hypnotized, the pain by suggestion can be, and Is nearly 
always relieved If not cured. The operator wants to be firm, 
when the patient is in the somnambulistic state, and repeat 
two or three times : * You surely will be out of pain when 
you waken. You will not want to smoke ; the smell 
of tobacco will make you sick again ; you do not Hke 
tobacco ; it Is very nasty ; you will be well, when you 
waken, and will not be sick again for the want of tobacco ; 
only sick If you take it. ' It is well to look steadily at the 
subject while speaking, and either hold his hand in yours, 
or place your hand on his head. It is seldom necessary to 
have to hypnotize a patient more than two or three times 
to cure him of the tobacco habit. 

It seems that hypnotism promises a great deal to those 
who suffer from terrible habits. Oedmann says, that he has 
had good effects with suggestion, in curing alcoholism. 
Suggestive somnambulism has cured when every other 
known remedy has failed. 

In cases of drunkenness, much depends on the length 
of time of each "spree," and the number of years the 
habit has been inbedded In the mind or brain 'of the 
patient, also the physical condition of the patient, at the 
time the experiment of hypnotic sleep is tried. The better 
the health, the speedier the cure In most cases. 

- Hypnotism does not necessarily succeed at once. If the 
hypnosis is deep and the somnambulistic state is the result, 



1 62 HYPNOTISM, 

good effects may be very quickly obtained ; in other cases, 
patience and method are wanted, and all the difficulties 
taken into consideration. The more the idea of drink 
has taken root, the more difficult it is to overcome. 
Dr. Liebault and Dr. Liegeoir were only able to cure one 
patient, after sixty treatments of hypnotism, of which each 
lasted over half an hour. Dr. Moll, in speaking of the 
above case, says : "Why hypnotism should be measured by 
a different standard than other methods of treatment is 
inexplicable to me. A doctor is often satisfied to obtain a 
result after weeks or months of electro-therapeutic treat- 
ment, and how often, after months of perseverance, it fails 
to appear. Why, then, should we expect suggestive 
therapeutics to succeed in one day? Patience on the 
side of both doctor and patient is often required in all 
treatments." 

Many authors, and especially Kroepelin, have of late 
years advocated the use of hypnosis in alcoholism. Corval 
points out that in alcoholism any injurious effect of abstin- 
ence can thus be avoided, by simply suggesting that all 
desire and taste for liquor shall disappear. The operator 
when addressing the subject must be sure to speak firmly 
and to say something like this : ' ' Pay close attention to 
me. Remember, when you waken, you will not drink or 
taste any wine or liquor. Remember, not for three days 
and three nights, and then come back to me." The post- 
hypnotic suggestion is a wonderful help in such cases, and 
after two or three hypnosis the subject can be told not to 
come back for three weeks, then three months, and finally 
not to come any more. 

Berillon and Tanzistrand and others are in favor of this 
gradual method of curing. Berillon and Jennings hold that 



HYPNOTISM. 163 

auto-suggestion Is a great factor in producing the difficulty 
of treating both alcoholism and morphinism, the auto- 
suggestion that he cannot do without drink or morphia 
leading the patient to desist from treatment. The following 
case is one given by Dr. Cocke, and we consider it very 
interesting. 

* ' The patient was a mechanic, well-developed physi- 
cally, forty-three years old, married, and had three healthy 
children. No organic disease could be detected about him. 
Every three months, regularly, he would have a spree 
lasting two weeks. He explained to me that he had no 
physical desire for liquor, but had a mental impulse to 
drink which became a fixed idea, and was impossible for 
him to resist. This idea usually possessed him about four 
days before he yielded to it. I told him to come to me as 
soon as the idea came upon him. This he did. He was put 
into a somnambulistic state, and in a firm manner told that 
the idea would vanish. It did not. He told me honestly 
the evening after he had been hypnotized that the impulse 
was growing upon him, and he feared that he must yield. 
Again he v/as hypnotized, and the sleep was very profound. 
In a stern, firm manner he was told to remember that he 
was a man, with a firm will, and that he must resist the 
desire. That he must not drink. That whiskey would 
make him sick, and that when he awoke the first thing for 
him to do was to walk six times up and down before a 
liquor store and not to go in. And that the thought 
of whiskey would make him ill. As soon as he was aroused 
from the hypnotic sleep he did as he was told. He was 
watched by his brother, who did not drink. He wrote me 
next day that the desire for drink was entirely gone. At 
the end of the following three months he again consulted 



1 64 HYPNOTISM. 

me, stating that the idea was haunting him but not quite to 
such an extent as previously. One hypnotic treatment was 
sufficient to dispel it. At the end of the following nine 
months he again returned, stating he had drank a glass 
of whiskey with a friend, and that the old idea liad 
returned. He was hypnotized, and since then, a period 
of three years, he has had no desire for drink." 

"It is always well when making suggestions to som- 
nambulistic subjects, on so important a matter as drinking, 
smoking, etc., to place your hand on the back of theirs, 
and to look steadily at them when making the command 
or suggestion. Professor Bernheim says : 'It is always 
necessary to ha\'e deep sleep for manifestation of a rapid 
action; simple dullness is sufficient in some cases;' but 
rarely can disease or habit be relieved or cured unless th^ 
patient becomes somnambulistic ; with no remembrance 
of anything upon waking but what you tell him to remem- 
ber. He will be eminently suggestible. For example, a 
man comes to me to be cured of the morphio-mania. The 
patient is put to sleep by means of suggestion^ that is, by 
making the idea of sleep penetrate his mind. He is treated 
by means of suggestion^ that is, by making the idea of cure 
penetrate his brain, and remain there. I affirm in a low 
firm voice, 'You are asleep, and you must sleep deep ; yo\i 
must think well of what I say. When you wake, you must 
remember all I say. Will you?' Repeat over and over, 
* Will you? ' At last the patient mdiy promise. If he does, 
you have gained much toward curing him. If he will not 
speak, I put my hand on his forehead, and continue : 
' When you wake, you will not want any morphine ; you 
will not like it ; it will make you sick.' I then hold his 
eyelids closed, in silence, a moment or two, then hardly 



HYPNOTISM. 165 

above a whisper, I continue, * Remember all I say when 
you wake. You will not want any opium, in any way ; 
you will have no pain. The desire will not come back any 
more.' In order to increase the force of the suggestion by 
embodying it, so to speak, in a material sense, following 
M. Liebault's example, I suggest a feeling of warmth, loco 
dolenti. In about twenty minutes, I wake the patient. In 
some cases, the patient is hypnotized twice ; in others, 
many many times before the desire entirely disappears." 

* * It is in somna7nbulisni that suggestion reaches its max- 
imum efficiency, and that cures are often instantaneous and 
seem miraculous. Certain subjects resist for many treat- 
ments ; they only fall into somnolence ; the effect obtained 
is slight or doubtful. By persevering for a longer or shorter 
time, several days or even several weeks, with hypnotiza- 
tions which give but little result, some subjects can at last, 
be put into a deeper sleep, and then the therapeutic action 
of suggestion may be rapid and lasting." 

*'The mode of suggestion should also be varied and 
adapted to the special suggestibility of the subject. A 
simple word does not always suffice in impressing the idea 
upon the mind. It is sometimes necessary to reason, to 
prove, to convince, in some cases to affirm decidedly ; in 
others to insinuate gently ; for in the condition of hypnosis, 
just as in the waking condition, the moral indlvIduaHty 
of each subject persists according to his character, his 
inclination, his special impressionability, etc. Hypnosis 
does not run all Its subjects into a uniform mould, and 
make pure and simple automatons out of them ; moved 
solely by the will of the operator; it increases the cerebral 
docility ; it makes the automatic activity preponderate over 
the will. But the latter persists to a certain degree, the 



166 HYPNOTISM. 

subject thinks, reasons, discusses, accepts more readily than 
in the waking condition, but does not always accept, 
especially in the light degrees of sleep. In these cases we 
must know the patient's character, his particular psychical 
condition, in order to make an impression on him." 

Many people are afraid of hypnotism, but without 
cause. While hypnosis may not be absolutely safe, still 
it is not absolutely dangerous. The dangers of hypnotizing 
is somewhat exaggerated. In the hands of a thorough 
operator, whether a doctor or not, there is no harm ; in fact, 
one could not do the harm to a patient with hypnotism, 
that he could with drugs. Much more knowledge is neces- 
sary in handling medicine than in handling hypnotism. 

Dr. Moll, says : "It is never asked if a remedy might 
not be dangerous ; we only ask if we cannot avoid the 
danger by careful and scientific use of it. Rust asserts, in 
speaking of artificial somnambulism : * The best assertion 
that can be made about a remedy or method of cure, is 
that it might also do damage ; for what can never do posi- 
tive harni can never do positive good.' This assertion is 
to a great degree justifiable, though perhaps exaggerated ; 
for I think I may say that there are few remedies in medi- 
cine which would not injure if carelessly and ignorantly 
used. There are even medicines which may injure, how- 
ever carefully used, because we do not know exactly under 
what conditions they become hurtful. I need not speak of 
morphia, strychnine, and bella-donna, which have some- 
times done injury even when the maximum dose was not 
surpassed, nor of the deaths from chloroform, the reason 
of which has not been explained. Thiem and P. Fischer, 
with praiseworthy scientific frankness, have quite recently 
published a case of the fatal after-effects of chloroform; 



HYPNOTISM. 167 

death followed on the fourth day. These authors say that 
there is at least one death for every thousand administra- 
tions of chloroform. Neither will I speak of the dangers 
of surgical operations. I need only point out that an appar- 
ently harmless medicine may have, very likely, already done 
more mischief than hypnotism. Many deaths have resulted 
from the use of potassium chloride, and unfortunately this 
drug can still be bought in retail without a medical pre- 
scription. Severe collapse has been observed after the use 
of antipyrine — sulfonal —which is supposed to be a perfectly 
harmless . hypnotic drug. A friend and colleague has told 
me that he has seen sad consequences follow from its use, 
and that there were some patients to whom he never gave 
it, for fear this ' harmless ' drug would work great mischief 
And again, as to Mendel's treatment by suspension, which 
a few years ago became almost a fashion, and from which 
certain enthusiasts really expected the cure of locomotor 
ataxia. It is now certain that it may cause great injury, or 
even death. Many published reports show that even the 
presence of a doctor does not prevent evil consequences. 
Billroth has pointed out great dangers from carbolic acid, 
which is constantly used. \i we give up the use of these 
remedies, we might give up medicine altogether, as every- 
thing employed may do harm." 

"The above is in favor of hypnotism. The future will 
decide the fate of hypnotism, but nearly all the men who 
paint the harm of or dangers of hypnotism (Gilles de 
la Tourette, Ewald, Mendel, Rieger, Binswagor), and are 
in general against it, by no means refrain from using hyp- 
notizing sleep. By this they allow that it is not hypnotism 
itself, but its misuse, which is mischievous," 



1 68 HYPNOTISM, 



CHAPTER XI. 

HYPNOTISM. 

The Phenomena of Hypnotism — Why Hypnosis is different in 
different subjects — Proof that such a Science as Hypnotism 
exists — Rapport — Double Consciousness — Max Dessoir Theory 
— H. Bernheim Theory. 

"Truth is never dangerous; ignorance alone is dis- 
armed," says Professor Bernheim. 

Charles Richet, relating analogous examples has de- 
scribed this singular psychical state. "Many imagine that 
they have not been influenced, because they have heard 
everything They believe in good faith that they have 
been pretending. It is sometimes difficult to show them 
that they were not able to pretend." 

"Induced somnambulism is manifested in extreme 
cases ; those in which the act suggested forces itself with an 
irresistible sway. But nothing happens in the profound 
sleep which has not its analogy, its diminutive, if I may so 
express it, in the waking condition. Sleep exaggerates 
physiological automatism, it does not create it. Between 
the fatal suggestion and the absolutely voluntary determina- 
tion, all degrees may exist. And who can analyze all the 
suggested elements which, unknown to us, come into the 
actions we believe to be of our own initiative." 




METHOD USED IN CURING THE MORPHINE HABIT. 
See Page 164. 
Qriginal Portraits. Copyright by M. Toung, Aug. 1 899. 



HYPNOTISM. 169 

' * You speak of universal hallucination. It existed, when 
it was not known, when no one suspected the singular 
facility with which artificial hallucination could be realized. 
It existed when a naive faith in sorcery blinded the best 
minds, as if implanted in the human brain by suggestion ; 
when meetings of witches, sorcery, nightmares, malicious 
spirits, and all phantoms evoked by the imagination were 
considered as realities, when trembling science did not dare 
in face of the funeral pile, to beard all-powerful religious 
superstition. What crimes, what catastrophes, what judicial 
errors might have been spared poor humanity if scientific 
truth had been able to show itself! The history of the devil, 
of witchcraft, of evil possessions, the history of demoniacal 
epidemics, these collective suggested hallucinations weigh 
like a frightful nightmare upon the centuries which precede 
our own, and in our day still, what superstitions suggested 
by the binding of a coarse faith will disappear like shadows 
under the torch of scientific truth !" 

"One can do well, by meditating upon these words 
of Bacon's, 'The human mind does not sincerely receive 
the light thrown upon things, but mixes therewith its own 
will and passions ; thus, it makes a science to its taste ; 
for the truth that man most willingly receives, is the one he 
desires. ' ' ' 

The following remarks were made by Ralph H. Vin- 
cent, and we consider them the best that we can find, 
pertaining to the subject now under discussion : 

"The characteristic features of hypnosis is the pres- 
ence of a condition in which a suggestion causes a reaction 
of the central nervous system definitely corresponding with 
the nature of the suggestion. 

' ' The alterations of the ordinary functions of the body 



I70 HYPNOTISM. 

during hypnosis vary in their degree and number, in 
accordance with the method of hypnotization. Some sub- 
jects are able to move with perfect ease and freedom ; thus, 
they will brush a fly off the face with the hand, or change 
their position when one posture becomes wearying. Others 
present all the appearances of being in a heavy sleep. The 
breathing is slower and deeper than in the normal condition, 
the inspirations being full and prolonged ; the pulse is 
somewhat slower, but increased in fullness and strength. 

"At the moment when the subject passes into hypnosis, 
there is always more or less marked, a deep inspiration 
of peculiar quality. 

"The general condition of the subject when hypnosis has 
been induced is one of acute passivity. The position which 
the patient has taken up may remain the same down to the 
smallest detail for the space of half an hour or more ; the 
fingers, clasped or open, will so remain. The subject can 
hear perfectly well ; but the most amusing story may be 
told to others in the room without provoking the slightest 
reaction in him. The normal irritability of the nervous 
system has disappeared in a striking manner. 

"The eyes and the mouth often show striking symp- 
toms of the onset of hypnosis. The closing of the eyes is 
generally preceded by a marked quivering of the eyelids, 
and their vibrations are often maintained for some time after 
the eyes are closed. 

"It is not always necessary that the eyes should be 
closed for a person to be hypnotized, though this is gen- 
erally the case, and in many instances to open the eyes 
would awaken the subject. 

"When the method of fascination is used, the eyes 
may remain wide open the whole time. In the deepest 



HYPNOTISM. 171 

hypnosis, it is frequently found that the eyes are not quite 
closed, but that there is a slight opening left, through which 
the eyeball can be seen. Sometimes, as the eyes close, the 
eyeball turns upwards, and remains in this position till the 
subject is awakened ; at other times it is found that the 
eyeball returns to its natural position when the eyes are 
closed. In any but the lightest stages of hypnosis all mus- 
cular movements can be prevented or induced by means 
of suggestion. Thus, the statement, * You cannot open your 
mouth,' or 'You cannot bend your arm,' is sufficient to 
prevent the action being performed. 

" A subject in response to the proper suggestion will be 
able to say some definite word, but in all other respects 
will be absolutely dumb. He will be able to write, play 
the piano, sew, but quite unable to hold in his hand some 
small given object. 

"By means of suggestion it is possible to compel the 
subject to cough, sneeze, laugh, weep, etc., etc. In the 
case of those subjects who are in a deep stage, a series 
of movements will be performed by them if they be so 
directed. 

"It is important to note that while suggestion may be 
made verbally to the patient, it is by no means necessary 
that words should be used. All that is requisite is that the 
subject should clearly understand what it is that is desired 
of him. The organs of sense and perception are all chan- 
nels for the conveyance of any suggestion made to the 
subject. It is found for instance that some action on the 
part of the hypnotist will tend to bring the suggestion more 
vividly before the mind of the patient. 

* ' This fact led many to suppose that the physical 
action of the operator had some intrinsic value. Such is. 



172 HYPNOTISM. 

however, not the case ; its only value lies in Its power 
of intensifying the impression which it is desired to create. 

" In the deeper stages the memory is lost, miless after 
awakening him, some hint be given to the subject ; this 
may serve to bring the whole chain of events to his recol- 
lection. In the deepest states memory is entirely lost, the 
subject fails altogether to remember any event of the 
hypnotic sleep, and when anything he may have said or 
done under hypnosis is pointed out to him he manifests the 
greatest surprise. A very important fact to be noticed is 
that if the subject be hypnotized a second time he will 
remember all the events of the previous hypnosis, and thus 
a deep hypnotic subject may be said to lead two distinct 
lives — the hypnotic in which he remembers all the sugges- 
tions which have been made, and the events which have 
taken place during previous hypnosis, and the waking 
in which he has no recollection or knowledge of these 
events. 

'' The hypnotic memory is an element which the exper- 
imenter has to carefully guard against, lest he be led 
into many errors by neglecting the necessary precautions. 
If, for instance, the operator has been in the habit of con- 
necting some particular touch or pass with the verbal 
suggestion of an act, he will find that owing to the memory 
of the subject connecting the touch or pass with the verbal 
suggestion, he can dispense with speech, and rely solely on 
the touch for the production of the desired effect. This 
explains many of the performances of magnetizers who 
have learned in the same way to omit verbal suggestion, 
and thus add to the mystery of the performance. 

''Loss of memory can be induced, and the recollec- 
tion of any period of the subject's life may be completely 



HYPNOTISM. 173 

destroyed. The subject can be made to forget his own 
name, age, where he Hves, or what is his occupation. 
According to Forel and to Frayick, it is possible to cause a 
subject to forget entirely a language he has learned. 

"Any suggestion that takes effect in hypnosis will also 
take effect post-hypnotically, provided the hypnosis be 
sufficiently deep to admit of post-hypnotic suggestion being 
executed. Dreams can be suggested, and sleep free from 
dreams. The suggestion carried on from hypnosis into the 
normal state is called a continuative suggestion ; as for 
instance, when a subject is given toothache in the hyp- 
notic state, and is told that he will still suffer from it 
when he awakes. 

"It is not necessary to its success that the suggestion 
should take immediate effect. Let it be said to a subject, 
'When you come to see me this day fortnight, you will 
not be able to speak to me ; ' and on that day he is quite 
unable to utter a word. 

"There are innumerable forms of such deferred sugges- 
tion. It must be noted, however, that some forms will not 
always succeed with certain subjects. Thus, he is told, 
at four o'clock, that when the clock strikes five he will find 
that he is at a concert and will go to the piano and sing. 
Immediately the suggestion is given he is awakened, and 
he will talk and conduct himself quite naturally, and will 
not have the least idea that any such suggestion has been 
made to him ; only as soon as the clock strikes five, he 
will get up, and seating himself at the piano, he will begin 
to sing. 

" In this case the precise time for the carrying out 
of the suggestion is fixed by an external sign, and these 
suggestions nearly always succeed. If, however, we do not 



174 HYPNOTISM. 

name any such concrete sign, butrely on something else 
less definite such as a period of time the results are more 
uncertain. The suggestion is made to a subject that in an 
hour's time he will get up and dance, some will carry out 
the suggestion very punctually, others will dance, but they 
will begin a quarter of an hour too soon, or (very rarely) a 
little late. With many the suggestion will altogether fail 
owing to its want of definiteness. 

"Another means of deciding the moment for the 
execution of a post-hypnotic suggestion is the following : — 
The hypnotist says to the subject, ' When I get up and 
open the window you will immediately become very 
angry.' He is then awakened, and converses amicably 
enough till the window is opened, when he at once begins 
to look seriously annoyed. Asked what he is angry about 
he says that to open the window was a very ridiculous 
idea ; did we not know that he positively objected to 
draughts — every one in the room must certainly feel very 
chilly, etc. 

"The suggestion may be made more subtle if the 
subject be told to laugh, .when the hypnotist for, say the 
tenth time, taps his hand on the table. 

"As they talk together, the hypnotist unconcernedly 
taps the table with his fingers ; at the tenth tap, the subject 
laughs. Frequently, though the execution of the sugges- 
tion will not be so precise, but will happen a little before or 
after the exact moment. 

"The question naturally arises, 'What is the precise 
condition of the subject during the action of the post- 
hypnotic suggestion ? 

"This is not capable of a very simple answer, because 
the state varies with the person hypnotized, and it is neces- 



HYPNOTISM. 175 

sary to clearly understand the nature of these conditions 
before any explanation is possible. 

"It will be seen from the above examples that the 
nature of the post-hypnotic states varies greatly, and this 
variation is dependent on the individuality of the subject. 
In the writer's experience, the first stage of post-hypnosis, 
namely, that stage in which the subject is normal in every 
respect save in the performance of the suggestion, is the 
most frequent, and the other stages are placed in the order 
of their frequency. 

*' In all hallucinations of personality, the person hyp- 
tized will always 'live up' to the character as far as his 
knowledge will allow. It is quite possible to make the 
the subject believe he is some inanimate object, such as 
a chair, a carpet, a piece of window glass. 

"The sense of hearing is frequently increased to an 
enormous extent by suggestion under hypnosis. A subject 
who could in the normal state only hear the ticking of a 
watch at a less distance than four feet, could by hypnotic 
suggestion hear it twelve feet away, and through a closed 
door. 

" An experiment which the writer frequently performed 
at Oxford is the following:— A number of persons each 
take in their hands some small object such as a penknife, a 
pencil case, a coin, a key, &c. While the hypnotized 
subject is still out of the room these articles are placed on 
the table, and the subject is brought into the room. He 
takes up the first object, smells it, and then smells the 
hands of the various persons till he comes to the owner 
of the article, when he leaves it in his or her own hand, and 
so on until he has settled the ownership of all the articles 
placed on the table. 



176 HYPNOTISM. 

" Another evidence of this increase of faculty was given 
when the writer went, while the subject was out of the room, 
to some book shelves and touched his finger to the backs 
of several books. The subject, on returning into the room, 
smelled the two fingers, and going to the shelves pulled 
out the very identical books which had been touched. 

"In all the deep states of hypnosis, complete anaes- 
thesia can be produced. The most powerful electric current 
can be administered without the patient evincing the 
least sign of discomfort. Teeth may be extracted or 
filled, and many surgical operations performed, without 
causing any pain to the subject. The fact that this 
anaesthesia can be produced in all the deep hypnosis, 
provides the experimenter with a ready means of demon- 
strating that there is no simulation on the part of the 
subject. 

' ' The pulse, respiration and temperature, are capable 
of great modification by means of suggestion. Kraft- 
Ebling suggested to a patient that he was in a bath, and 
immediately the patient was covered with goose flesh ; 
by this means, the suggestion made him cold. In a 
second after he was told that it was very hot, ninety in 
the shade, and he began to ' melt ' till he finally sank to 
the ground in a mass as ridiculous as he could assume. 

' ' Very often an illusion given will result in what is 
termed 'auto-suggestion,' for instance, a person hypno- 
tized early in the afternoon is awakened in five minutes 
with the idea that it is seven in the evening. He says 
he feels hungry and wants his dinner. 

"The following instance of a frequent phenomenon in 
post-hypnotic suggestion is notable. The writer suggested 
to a lady that when she awoke she would find that the 



HYPNOTISM. 177 

floor was covered with tacks, and that she had no shoes 
on. Immediately on waking, she huddled herself up in 
the chair, and drew her feet off the floor. When asked 
the reason, she said there was 'something sharp,' and on 
being further pressed as to what It was, she said, * pins ; ' 
this variation, slight in itself, is an Illustration of the nature 
of the action of the hypnotic suggestion ; the word 'tack' 
was lost, but the essential idea of the suggestion was in 
action. Binet and Fere point out that hypnotic hallucina- 
tion has always the appearance of a spontaneous symptom. 
On awaking, the subject obediently performs the act which 
he was ordered to do during the hypnotic sleep, but he 
does not remember who gave him the order, nor even 
that it was given at all. If asked why he is performing 
the act, he usually replies that he does not know, or that 
the idea has come into his head. He generally supposes 
It to be a spontaneous act, and sometimes he even Invents 
reasons to explain his conduct." 

All this shows that the memory of the suggestion, so far 
as respects Its utterance Is completely effaced. 

Some of the results of the phenomena of hypnosis may 
leem so startHng that we can quite understand their being 
eceived by some with a certain degree of suspicion ; and 
indeed, in all such matters, the more scientific mind will 
naturally demand to at any rate see phenomena before 
they yield them absolute credence ; however It Is not our 
■jresent duty to convince any one, but only to record the 
.ct. 

" Can the phenomena of hypnosis be explained? " Is a 
question often asked. In answering, l^r, Moll says, "We 
have been able to connect many every-day occurrences 
with hypnosis, and have found many more connecting links 



1 78 HYPNOTISM. 

with normal life than is generally supposed. I even believe 
that we can explain certain hypnotic phenomena by means 
of analog-y, and I think that many of the post-hypnotic 
phenomena are capable of explanation in the above mean- 
ing of the word." 

We shall understand the different symptoms of hypnosis 
much more easily if we first examine two phenomena. Let 
us begin by considering the first point. There are people 
who believe they can escape external psychical influences, 
but they are wrong since observation shows that every 
one is more or less influenced by ideas. Bentivegni and 
Bernheim both believe that life is full of such influences, and 
they will work so long as there is mental activity in man. 

In the same way men have a tendency to believe things 
without complete logical proof we will call this quality 
creduhty. Those who contend that men are not credulous, 
show that they are themselves incapable of reflection, says 
Forel. A few years ago it was believed that there was no 
such thing as hypnotism, and that those who believed in it 
were deceived. But since that time opinion has entirely 
changed. The representations made by different people in 
authority as to the reality of the hypnotic phenomena, and 
particularly the repeated asssertions of numerous investiga- 
tors, has caused a complete change of view. 

The second point in view, is that an effect on himself, 
which a man expects, tends to appear. We can find a 
great number of these phenomena in ordinary life ; they 
are mysterious and astonishing only when we neglect to 
consider this tendency. Hack Tuke, and many other 
investigators have beside admitted that these phenomena 
are of great importance. I will now describe some of 
them : 



HYPNOTISM. 179 

Dr. Moll says: ** People who suffer from sleepless- 
ness have often been sent to sleep by taking something 
which they were told was a sleeping draught, but which 
was really some inert substance. They slept because 
they expected to. A great many people wish for sleep, 
but as they do not expect it, it does not come." 

Forel, says : ' ' We will take a case of hysterical 
paralysis ; it is well known that such a paralysis is some- 
times cured at the exact moment the patient expects. 
Many mysterious effects may be thus explained." 

According to Noizet and Bertrand, who have been 
joined lately by Liebault, Bernheim, Forel and others, 
rapport is a state of sleep in which the attention of the 
subject is fixed exclusively upon the hypnotizer, so that 
the idea of him is constantly present in the subject's 
memory. On this account, Bertrand compared these pro- 
cesses to the falling asleep of a mother by her child's 
cradle. She continues to watch over it in sleep ; she 
hears the least sound it makes, but no other sounds. 
This analogy may explain the peculiar influence which a 
hypnotizer has over his subject. The subject has fallen 
asleep with the thought of the hypnotizer in his mind, 
and hears only what he says, as in the case of the mother 
and child. 

" If I tell a working man, who has a chair in front 
of him, ' there is nothing there, neither chair nor table ; ' 
he will see the chair in spite of what I say ; but the 
hypnotic subject will not see it, at least if he is suscep- 
tible to negative hallucination. Now, we can regard this 
process in the hypnotic as a diversion of the attention, 
like that in the waking man who fails to perceive things 
which stimulate his organ 01 sense." 



i8o HYPNOTISM. 

According to Binet and Fere another factor must be 
added to the diversion of the attention, before it can be 
attained. A conviction that the chair is not there must be 
first estabhshed in the subject. Without this there would 
hardly be a negative hallucination. 

Dr. Moll says : "Such a derangement of the memory 
as sometimes occurs in hypnosis' is certainly very striking, 
though it is clear at once that we can find many analogies in 
ordinary life. I need not, of course, discuss those hypnotic 
states in which there are no derangements of the memory." 

* ' But there are persons w^ho after waking from hyp- 
nosis remember nothing of what has happened. It is also a 
well-known fact that we forget certain events apart from 
hypnosis. We entirely forget certain mechanical actions, 
such as winding of a watch, etc. We study this phenom- 
enon, and we saw that the subject in hypnosis remembered 
all the events of preceding hypnosis and of his waking life ; 
we call this ^double co7isciousness.^ This requires special 
consideration. It is, indeed, a striking phenomenon that 
two complete and thoroughly separate states of conscious- 
ness can be induced and distinguished in a human being ; 
so that in one, the waking life, the events of waking life 
only are remembered ; and in the other, the hypnotic state, 
the events of preceding hypnosis and of waking life. ' ' 

Max Dessoir supposes, with Pierre Janet, that human 
personality is a unity merely to our consciousness, but 
that it consists really of at least two clearly distinguish- 
able personalities, each held together by its own chain 
of memories. According to him many actions are done 
unconsciously, though of mental origin. If, for instance, one 
cannot recall a name, and purposely refrains from trying to 
do so in the hope that it will recur later, these statistics 



HYPNOTISM. i8i 

show that there Is still very frequently a certain sense 
of effort. To return to hypnosis, we have now to explain 
the state of double consciousness. Max Dessoir thinks 
that hypnosis simply exhibits the hidden half of our mental 
life, the part which is called secondary consciousness and 
which can occasionally be observed in ordinary life or more 
plainly, in pathological states, that hypnosis represents 
experimentally this part of life. According to Max Des- 
soir' s theory, the condition of double consciousness is no 
absolutely new phenomenon, but only the experimental 
representation of a definite psychic relationship, such as 
may occasionally be observed even in normal persons. 
Whatever we may think of this theory. Max Dessoir's 
explanations are none the less valuable for the consider- 
ation of the double consciousness In hypnosis. 

By means of automatic writing It can be proved that 
the impressions of hypnosis are really firmly lodged in 
the brain ; Gurney, F. Myers, and Pierre Janet have 
made a series of very good experiments on this point. 
For example, X Is waked from hypnosis and remembers 
n thing that has happened ; but, when he Is ordered to 
write automatically what was said to him, he does it 
correctly. Now, as he could not tell these things, and 
they are not to be found In the primary consciousness, 
these experiments in automatic writing prove that the 
Impressions exist all the same. They disclose themselves 
In the automatic writing. 

It is quite another thing when the sense delusion 
appears w^Ithout any order or suggestion, which it often 
does, in post-hypnotic actions. For example, I say to 
some one In hypnosis, "When I cough after you wake, 
you will see a pigeon sitting on the table ; you will be 



1 82 HYPNOTISM. 

thoroughly awake at the time you see it." He is awak- 
ened ; we talk of many subjects, for half an hour; suddenly 
I give a slight cough, but go on speaking. He interrupts 
me, exclaiming, ''See that pigeon on the table." There 
is no pigeon there, but it is impossible to make him accept 
a further suggestion. That one point excepted, he was 
perfectly normal. 

Professor Bernheim, says: "Some of the subjects 
whom we hypnotize fall into a deep sleep with loss of 
memory upon waking ; we call such cases somnambulists. 
According to M. Liebault, one-fifth or one-sixth of all 
subjects are somnambulists." 

"Although the other patients remember everything 
that has happened upon waking, and sometimes imagine 
that they have not been asleep, they have been influenced 
in varying degrees. Suggestive catalepsy, induced con- 
tracture, automatic movements, the suppression of pain, 
etc., decisively prove the existence of the influence." 

"The patients in deep sleep with loss of memory 
upon waking, lie quietly like natural sleep, if left alone. 
There is nothing by which to differentiate this induced 
sleep from natural sleep, except the expression, and that 
diflerence cannot be described. The phenomena of sensi- 
bility, motility, ideation, imagination, illusions, and hal- 
lucination, do not appear spontaneously, but are brought 
about by means of suggestion. The same phenomena 
may be induced in these subjects when we put ourselves 
into relationship with them, in their natural sleep ; the 
same passive attitude of the limbs known as catalepsy, the 
same automatic movement, the same illusions, the same 
active or passive hallucination. Hallucinations are only 
suggested dreams ; dreams are only spontaneous hallucina- 



HYPNOTISM. I §3 

tlons. Whether spontaneous or suggested, these hallu- 
cinations remain passive ; that is, the subject is motionless 
as in the normal dreams. They do not become active ; 
that is the subject does not move, does not walk and 
only plays an animated part in the hallucination induced, 
when roused from his torpid condition by suggestion. 
In like manner, the dreams of spontaneous sleep becomes 
active in some cases, and constitute natural somnambu- 
lism. The fact will bear repetition, and all manifestations 
realized in the hypnotic condition maybe realized in natural 
sleep in the same subject." 

*' Hypnotic sleep is not a pathological sleep. The hyp- 
notic condition is not a neurosis, analogous to hysteria. 
Catalepsy, transfer, contracture, etc., are the effects of sug- 
gestion. To, prove that the very great majority of subjects 
are susceptible to suggestion is to eliminate the idea of a 
neurosis. The sleep itself is the effect of suggestion." 

The Nancy School placed the study of hypnotism upon 
its true basis, suggestion, and thus created this most useful 
and fruitful application, an application which has caused 
the world to wonder. To M. Li6bault belongs the honor 
of first introducing the application of suggestion, an honor 
which cannot be denied him." 



1 84 HYPNOTISM, 



CHAPTER XII. 

HYPNOTISM. 

What can be done with Hypnotism — The elevated moral tone of 
Subjects when hypnotized — Three rules, never to be forgotten 
by the operator — Can hypnotism be simulated? — Professor 
Gregory's views — How to waken subjects without harm. 

I deem it proper to say a few words on one of the 
branches of hypnotism, which is now attracting the attention 
alike of students of the science and the public at large. 
The idea is being very generally promulgated among the 
people that the ability for one man to hypnotize another 
implies the possession of a very dangerous power, and 
one which in the hands of an unscrupulous man, may 
be used in doing great harm to his subjects. There need 
be no fear on that account, for if a person does not wish 
to be hypnotized^ he cannot be. 

In the first place, by reading over the methods given 
in this book, it will be seen that it is necessary for every 
subject, to gaze at some object while being hypnotized. 
That the subject is asked to do and think certain things, 
so as to place his mind and body in the right state to be 
hypnotized. It must be remembered that a person who 
does not intend to allow himself to be hypnotized will 
hardly place himself in the necessary mental state. He 



HYPNOTISM. 185 

will not generally fulfill the conditions ; and unless he does 
as desired, he cannot be hypnotized. The only way that 
we know a person can be hypnotized against his wishes, 
is when he is asleep, and it is seldom an operator can 
gain access to one when asleep. 

Dr. Bernheim says on this subject, ''No magnetizer 
exists. No magnetic fluid exists. Neither Donata or Hansen 
have any special hypnotic virtues. The induced sleep does 
not depend upon the hypnotizer but upon the subject only, 
it is his ov^xv faith which puts him to sleep. No one can be 
hypnotised agairist his will, if he resists the commands and 
conditions. I am very glad to join my word in re-assuring 
the pubHc against all chimerical fear which a false interpre- 
tation of the facts of hypnotism might produce." 

This from Professor Bernheim who is an acknowledged 
authority by all the scientific world. 

We give here the three rules which Dr. Bernheim also 
says should never under any consideration be broken. He 
says : 

' ' These rules I bind to myself, and to which all physi- 
cians and operators should bind to themselves before using 
hypnotism in any form, in order to protect their conscience 
and professional honor, as well as the honor of the subjects 
or patients." 

First: — "Never hypnotize any subject without his 
formal consent, or the consent of those in authority over 
him." 

Second : — " Never induce sleep except in the presence 
of a third person in authority who can guarantee the good 
faith of the hypnotizer, also the subject. Thus any trouble 
may be avoided in the event of an accusation, or any 
suspicion of an attempt which is not for the relief of the 
subject." 



i86 ' HYPNOTISM. 

Third : — " Never give to the hypnotized subject, 
without his consent, any other suggestions than those 
necessary for his cure. The physician has no rights but 
those conferred upon him by the patient. He should Hmit 
himself to the therapeutic suggestion, any other experiment 
is forbidden him, without the formal consent of the patient, 
even though it be in the interest of science. The physician 
should not profit by his authority over the patient in order 
to provoke this consent, if he thinks that the experiment 
which he wishes to perform may have the slightest harmful 
effect. ' ' 

No operator should hypnotize any one for idle curiosity, 
or make any suggestions to ariy hypnotized subject for mere 
experiments. Every operator should know just what to do 
without making use of new thought in hypnosis on subjects 
who have not been hypnotized many times. 

Thousands of experiments are daily being made which 
demonstrate the impossibility of controlling the hypnotic 
subject so far as to cause him to do that which he believes 
or knows to be wrong. A common platform experiment is 
that of causing subjects to get drunk on water, under the 
suggestion that it is whiskey. It frequently happens that 
one or more of the subjects are conscientiously opposed to 
the use of strong drink as a beverage. Such persons 
invariably declme, in the most emphatic manner, to indulge 
in the proposed debauch. Like all such expenments on the 
stage, before a mixed audience, they are passed by as simply 
amusing, and no lesson is learned from them. The intelli- 
gent student, however, cannot fail to see the far-reaching 
significance of the refusal of a subject to violate his temper- 
ance principles. Again, every platform experimenter knows 
that while he can cause a crowd of his subjects to go in 



HYPNOTISM. 187 

swimming in imaginary water, he can never induce them 
to divest themselves of their clothing beyond the limits 
of decency. Some cannot even be made to take off their 
coats in the presence of the audience. Others will decline 
. to accept any suggestion, the pursuance of which would 
cause them to appear ridiculous. 

Again, it is well known to hypnotists that an attempt 
to contradict or argue with a subject in the hypnotic 
state invariably distresses him, and persistency in such a 
course awakens him, often with a nervous shock. A con- 
flict of suggestions invariably causes confusion in the 
subjective mind and generally results in restoring the 
subject to normal consciousness. It is always well to 
remember to speak plainly to a hypnotized subject, using 
short sentences, and to the point. Never speak of but 
one topic at a time ; dismiss one thing before speaking 
of another. 

In fact, it is impossible for a hypnotist to impress a 
suggestion so strongly upon a subject as to cause him 
actually to perform an act in violation of the settled 
principles of his life. If this were not true, suggestion 
would mean nothing ; it would have no place in psycho- 
logical science, because it would not be a law of universal 
application. The strongest suggestion must prevail. 

It has often been said, that many persons simulated 
hypnosis. A person might be able to do so before people 
who knew little about hypnotism, but never before 
operators who have had much experience. In the first 
place, we must notice how the eyes close, and how the 
subject tries to open them. This closing of the eyes is 
difficult to describe. The gradual falling of the lids is 
important, and the action of the muscles of the forehead 



i88 HYPNOTISM. 

when opening the eyes, in a way like that after sleep, 
as well as the convulsive rolling upwards of the eyeballs, 
which is often seen. The fibrillary twitching of the eye- 
Hds is, on the contrary, of no importance, as it often 
happens without hypnosis. 

Dr. Moll says: ''In cases where the eyes are open 
their expression is most important. The look is often 
blank and meaningless, the mask-like expression and 
attitude of the subject are often characteristic also. He 
moves his limbs slowly and heavily when commanded. 
The expression during sense delusion is also very important. 
Everyone knows how difficult it is to place oneself in an 
imaginary situation so that the expression, the attitude, 
and the actions should correspond to the idea. This is 
the great art of actors, and everybody knows how seldom 
an actor is able to represent a scene by the mere exer- 
tion of his owm will ; but it is still more difficult to change 
the mood in a moment, and pass from one situation to 
another in a few seconds. It is extremely difficult for a 
person awake, but the hypnotic subject does it easily. 
It is astonishing that outsiders should regard this very 
ability as a sign of fraud, as a competent judge once 
did at Vienna (Ferroni). It is surely one of the most 
difficult things to do, and it would be wonderful that all 
the suspected persons should devote themselves to the 
thankless part of fraud, when wdth such talents for acting a 
very different career would be open to them. The expres- 
sion of pain, the smiles, the chattering of teeth, and 
shivering at different suggestions of pain, pleasure, cold, 
etc., would be no easy task to the supposed impostor." 

"The waking in many cases is just as characteristic; 
the astonished face with which the subject looks round. 



HYPNOTISM. 189 

as if to find out where he Is. His behavior in post- 
hypnotic suggestion is Hkewise important." 

' ' The impostor generally exaggerates, like a person 
pretending madness. In spite of the variability of the 
symptoms of hypnotism there is a certain conformity to 
rule in its development. The impostor usually accepts 
all suggestions very quickly, while the experienced experi- 
menter knows that susceptibility to suggestion increases 
with a certain uniformity. It is very easy to simulate 
analyesia to slight feelings of pain, as this analyesia is 
mistakenly thought to be a common symptom. An unex- 
pected suggestion of pain causes the usual reflexes in 
the face and eyes, and yet the impostor will declare 
that he felt no pain. It is the same with sense delusions, 
where the suggestion generally requires to be emphasized 
before it takes effect. The impostor usually exaggerates 
here also." 

Anyone who understands ever so little about hypnot- 
ism will soon be able to tell the true hypnosis from the 
make believe. 

Hypnotic subjects are always endowed with a physical 
strength far superior to that possessed in the normal con- 
dition. Besides, it is the observations of every successful 
hypnotist that the moral tone of the hypnotic subject, 
while in that condition, is always elevated. On this sub- 
ject, we will let the late Professor Gregory speak : 

"When the sleeper has become fully asleep, so as to 
answer questions readily without waking, there is almost 
always observed a remarkable change in the countenance, 
the manner, and the voice. On falling asleep at first, 
he looks, perhaps, drowsy and heavy, like a person dozing 
in church, or at table when overcome by fatigue, or by 



I go HYPNOTISM. 

the foul air of an over-crowded apartment ; but when 
spoken to, he usually brightens up, and although the 
eyes be closed, yet the expression becomes highly intel- 
ligent, quite as much so as if he saw. The whole manner 
seems to undergo a refinement which, in the higher stages, 
reached a most striking point, insomuch, that we see, 
as it were, before us a person of a much more elegant 
and elevated character than the same sleeper seems to 
be when awake. It would seem as if the lower, or animal 
propensities were laid to rest, while the intellect and higher 
sentiments shone forth with a lustre that is undiminished 
by aught that is mean or common. In matter of fact, it 
seems as if the very soul of the sleeper lay bare before 
you, as if the earthly part of man were indeed dead, and 
only the soul with its everlasting life was conversing and 
looking at you, with all the grander and purer thoughts 
of existence at your command. This is particularly seen 
in women of natural refinement and high sentiments ; 
but it is also seen in men of the same stamp and more 
or less in all. In the highest stages of the hypnotic sleep 
the countenance often acquires the most lovely expression, 
surpassing all that the great artists have given to the 
Virgin Mary or to angels, and which may fitly be called 
heavenly, for it involuntarily suggests to our minds the 
moral and intellectual beauty which alone seems con- 
sistent with our views of Heaven. Such an expression 
is never seen, except in the hypnotic sleep. As to the 
voice, I have never seen one person in the true hyp- 
notic sleep w4io did not speak in a tone quite distinct 
from the ordinary voice of the sleeper. It is invariably, 
so far as I have observed, softer and more gentle, well 
corresponding to the elevated and mild expression of the 



HYPNOTISM, 191 

face. It has often a plaintive and touching character, 
especially when the sleeper ?peaks of departed friends or 
relations. In the highest stages, it has a character quite 
new, and in perfect accordance with the pure and lovely 
smile of the countenance, which beams on the observer, 
in spite of the closed eyes, like a ray of Heaven's own 
light and beauty. I speak here of that which I have 
often seen, and I would say that, as a general rule, 
the sleeper, when in the ordinary state and when in the 
deep hypnotic sleep, appears not like the same, but like 
two entirely different individuals. And it is not wonderful 
that it should be so. For the sleeper in the hypnotic 
state, has a consciousness quite separate and distinct 
from his ordinary consciousness ; he is, in fact, if not a 
different individual, yet the same individual in a different 
and distinct phase of his being, and that phase the highest 
one given to living man." 

Professor Gregory's experience and observations have 
been those of every hypnotist whose works have been 
examined. There is, indeed, an ineffable and indescrib- 
able something which overspreads the countenance of 
the virtuous woman while she is in the hypnotic state, 
which disarms passion, and affects the beholder with a 
feeling that he at least has seen something of what 
Heaven is Hke. He knows that the physical senses are 
asleep, and he feels that the human soul is shining forth 
in all its majesty and purity, untainted by any thought 
that is gross, any emotion that is impure. 

In the fore part of this book we have given many 
methods, and out of so miny, every one can certainly 
select one that they will be able to use with success ; but 
many subjects are put to sleep much easier than they 



192 HYPNOTISM. 

are wakened, therefore we think it wise to give advice 
about the care to be given to subjects who do not return 
to normal Hfe as quickly as others. Much hanii can be 
done to a subject, if great care is not taken when being 
brought back to actual life. If the hypnosis is deep\ it 
will always go into natural sleeps if the patient is let alone 
and does not waken readily. 

The awakening may be spontaneous. Subjects who 
sleep lightly, generally have a tendency to awaken quickly 
and easily. Often the subject will not awake while the 
operator remains near him, but will waken as soon as he 
goes some distance from him, either to the far side of the 
room or out into the hall. The majority of the subjects 
left to themselves sleep on for several minutes, then the 
hypnotic sleep emerges into natural sleep and that ijnay last 
some minutes, and perhaps, an hour. Dr. Bernheim cites 
a case, where the patient went from the hypnotic sleep into 
the natural sleep and did not waken for fifteen hours, yet 
no harm was done to the patient. 

In order to awaken the subject immediately, use verbal 
suggestion, in the same manner as when sleep is to be 
induced. Dr. Bernheim always says over and over again, 
"wake up, wake up,'" and if not an unusual case it suf- 
fices, even when uttered in a very low voice. 

In some cases, it may be necessary to add: "Your 
eyes are opening ; you are awake." If that is not enough, 
blow dce or twice on the eyes of the subject, it will 
generally cause them to open their eyes. Some operators 
sprinkle cold water on the faces of their subjects, but it 
is not a pleasant method of awaking. The awaking is 
usually very easy, but if any subject does not waken when 
ordered to do so there need be no uneasiness felt by the 



HYPNOTISM. ^193 

hypnotizer, as all hypnotic sleep will go into natural sleep 
if the subject is left quietly alone. 

Professor Bernheim, says : "At times there is nothing 
so strange as this awaking. The subject is in deep sleep. I 
question him and he answers. If he is naturally a good 
talker, he will speak fluently. In the midst of his con- 
versation, I suddenly say: 'Wake up;' he opens his 
eyes, and has absolutely no remembrance of what has 
happened. He does not remember having spoken to me, 
though he was speaking, perhaps, but one-tenth of a second 
before waking. In order to make the phenomenon more 
striking, I sometimes wake a patient in the following way : 
'Count up to ten ; when you say ten aloud, you will be 
awake,' The moment he says ten, his eyes open; but 
he does not remember having counted. Again, I say : 
'You are going to count up to ten; when you get to six 
you will wake up, but you will keep on counting aloud 
up to ten.' When he utters the word six, he opens 
his eyes but keeps on counting. When he has finished, 
I say : ' Why are you counting ? ' He no longer remem- 
bers that he has been counting. I have repeated this 
experiment many times with very intelligent people, the 
result always being the same." 

"It is necessary to proceed cautiously with hysterical 
subjects, avoiding touching painful points, and exciting 
the hysterogenic zones, lest an hysterical crisis be pro- 
duced. The hypnotic sleep may in this way give place 
to hysterical sleep, and the operator is then no longer 
in relationship with the subject. Suggestion has then no 
effect." 

"Some subjects remain sleepy when they wake up. If 
the operator waves his hand once or twice before the eyes. 



194 HYPNOTISM. 

he may dispel this drowsiness. Others complain of heavi- 
ness in the head, and of a dull headache or of dizziness. 
In order to prevent these various sensations, I say to the 
subject before waking him, 'You are going to wake up, 
and you will be perfectly comfortable ; your head is not 
heavy, you feel perfectly well,' and he awakes without 
any disagreeable sensations." 

^'Some subjects can be awakened by suggestion after 
a specified time. It is enough to say, ' You will awake in 
five minutes.' They wake precisely at the moment sug- 
gested. They have a correct idea of time. Some subjects 
have no accurate idea of time, and awake before the 
moment suggested. Some too, forget to awake. They 
remain in the passive condition, and appear unable to 
come out of the sleep spontaneously. It is necessary to 
say to such, * wake up,' in order to have them do so." 

"Many subjects upon waking rub their eyes, look 
wildly about, and are conscious of having slept deeply. 
Others open their eyes suddenly, not remembering what 
has passed, and do not know that they have been asleep. 
They are like epileptic patients who have been uncon-' 
scious and ignore the void which has come into their 
state of normal consciousness. * Have you slept ? ' * I do 
not know; I ought to believe it if you say so,' or, they 
are convinced that nothing abnormal has happened to 
them, and deny that they have been influenced." 



HYPNOTISM. 195 



CHAPTER XIII. 

HYPNOTISM. 

The Wonders of Hypnotism — Hypnotism as a Curative Power — 
The effects of Hypnotism upon the Senses — The effect of 
Hypnotism on the Function of Individual Organs — All Turns 
on the way Suggestion is made — 'Donatism.' 

Hypnotism is one of the Wonders of this age, perhaps, 
the Wonder that is the least understood of all in this the 
closing Nineteenth Century. In the beginning of the next 
hundred years, let us hope that the student and the scien- 
tist alike will try to achieve greatness through the avenues 
that lead to hypnotism, for in that way alone will this 
most wonderful oi sciences be fully understood. And man- 
kind needs to know more of hypnotism for its own good. 

Enthusiasm like scepticism is a good thing. In this 
most fascinating study both should be held in check by 
a firm, strong judgement ever regulated by reason and 
experience. 

Hypnotism, as has been said before, may be a pal- 
liative in . some incurable cases, as well as hasten the 
recovery of those so fortunate as to be susceptible of entire 
relief. A clear comprehension of the whole subject by the 
intelligent classes would greatly diminish the amount of 
fanaticism which is so deleterious to a large number of 
individuals. We do not need miracles or revelations to 



196 



HYPNOTISM. 



explain phenomena which can be and are susceptible of 
explanation upon a hypothesis which is based upon 
experimentation. 

' ' Can so intangible a thing as suggestion exercise an 
influence over the complex biological chemistry of the 
brain and body?" Most certainly. 

Charcot, Luys, Liebault, Krafft, Ebing, and others, 
many of whom are acknowledged to be the best authorities 
in Europe^ if not in the world, upon mental and nervous 
diseases, all testify and are in accord about a few of the 
following facts, of what can be done with hypnotism. 

First. — Hypnotism can, by soothing an over-excited 
brain cause the blood supply in it to be diminished, and 
rest follow delirium. Faculties unaccustomed to obey the 
will, can be trained to obedience through the power 
of hypnotism. 

It is generally believed by most psycho-physiologists 
that different parts of the brain can act independently, 
and in this way produce a great many varieties or states 
of consciousness, hence the terms 'subconscious,' 'dual- 
consciousness,' and many other similar ones. 

"Now, when one part of the brain is acting abnor- 
mally," says Dr. Cocke, " it may be checked or exhibited 
by the other parts of the brain. Each cell of the brain 
has a certain degree of vitality which can be expanded 
rapidly or slowly according to the circumstances. Sup- 
pose the brain by its activity to be evolving, as the result 
of the destruction of its own cells, substances which act 
as poison, and which interfere with or prevent its action. 
By quieting this activity, the blood circulating through 
the brain will have an opportunity of removing and dis- 
posing of the before-mentioned toxic (poisons) products. 




Fig. (5.) The Operator Hypnotising 3 Persons at One Time. 
Original Portraits. Copyright by M. Young, Aug. 1899. 



HYPNOTISM. 197 

Hence it follows, that hypnotism acts as a great regulator 
of the brain and nervous metabolism," 

Second. — The authorities quoted en masse practically 
agree that by concentrating the mind intensely upon any 
part of the body, various changes take place in that part, 
both in its sensation, in its blood supply, and in its nutri- 
tion. Tell the hypnotic subject that a part of the body is 
freezing, and immediately the phenomena popularly termed 
** goose-flesh " appears. Apply a metal and tell him it is 
hot, and he not only believes that he is being burned, but 
according to Professor Bernheim and others, actual blisters 
on the part will appear. The part will grow red or pale at 
the command of the hypnotist. 

Third. — The bowels too will move at a definite hour 
stated by the hypnotist when his patient is in the hypnotic 
state. The suggestions will act for twenty-four or thirty- 
six hours afterwards. Chemically inactive substances will 
nauseate and produce vomiting, and when ordered will 
intoxicate like whiskey ; and what is more pertinent to this 
chapter, hallucinations, illusions and delusions may be 
created, or in many cases destroyed, at the pleasure of the 
hypnotist. Hence it follows that no spiritual or magnetic 
theory is necessary to account for, or to give a reasonable 
explanation of, the curative effects of hypnotism. 

The terms nerve-force, vital fluid, etc., are perhaps as 
vague, at least we know as little about them as we do 
of hypnotism and other allied terms. 

But of this we are sure, hypnotism will cure some 
cases of insanity which are accompanied by hallucinations 
and illusions. It will reheve these same conditions when 
occurring among sane people as a result of some local 
or general slight disorder. 



198 HYPNOTISM. 

Dr. Cocke, says : "I again urge upon my readers, 
whether they be medical men or laymen, the utter folly 
of relying upon hypnotism without attending to all other 
methods of hygiene and medicine which have been and 
are the glorious achievements of the best medical thought 
of this and other ages." 

Fourth. — Hypnotism can be used for surgical anaes- 
thesia. In fact, it is no new thing to use hypnotism for 
operations. Dr. Charpignon reviewed the following facts, 
relative to operations practised during hypnotic anaesthesia, 
in the Gazette des Hopitaux^ in 1829, The removal of a 
breast by Jules Cloqaet, in 1845 ; in 1846, the amputation 
of a leg, and the extirpation of a gland painlessly per- 
formed by Dr. Loysel, of Cherbourg, France, in 1845 ; 
a double thigh amputation by Drs. Fanton and Towsel 
of London, England; in 1845, the amputation of an arm, 
by Dr. Joly of London, England. 

'' In spite of these fortunate trials, surgeons soon 
showed that hypnotism only rarely succeeds as an anaes- 
thetic, that absolute insensibility is the exception among 
hypnotizable subjects, and that the hypnotizing itself 
generally fails in persons disturbed by the expectation of 
an operation." 

Many of the failures, however, to produce by hyp- 
notism the insensibility to pain, were due to the subjects 
not having been properly prepared. 

If anaesthesia is complete, an operation can be per- 
formed, without any difficulty whatever, and there are 
none of the bad after effects that usually follow the use 
of opiates. However, it is a very easy matter to prove 
if an operation could be performed upon the patient or 
not, if anaesthesia is complete, a pin may be stuck into 



HYPNOTISM. 199 

the skin, electricity may be applied, objects may be 
pushed up into the nostrils, ammonia may be held under 
the nose, and the subject will not even wince. When 
one can do all this there need be no fear of using the 
knife. This complete anaesthesia may be spontaneously 
developed by simple hypnotization. 

In other subjects it is not spontaneous, but may be 
induced by suggestion, and according to some authorities 
it is much safer to operate on a patient when suggestion 
is used, as the hypnotic state is under better control. 

Fifth. — The effect of hypnotism upon the sense of 
sight is one of the most curious of all phenomena occur- 
ring in the hypnotic state. If a person who is hypnotized 
is told to open his eyes, he will do so, and seeing, 
will perceive only as the operator may suggest. Profes- 
sor James mentions many interesting experiments, which 
prove that blindness which can be induced by suggestion 
is purely psychic, and not due to any effect directly upon 
either the centre of sight in the brain or locally upon 
the eye. The hypnotized subject will become psychically 
blind at the operator's will. If a line is made upon a 
clean blackboard, the hypnotized subject, if commanded 
to do so, will tell you that the blackboard is still a blank. 
Place a number of lines in any position you please around 
the first one ; the hypnotized subject will still insist that 
the line you first made upon the blackboard is not there. 
Professor James argues that the fact of the hypnotized 
subject refusing to recognize the existence of a line, is an 
evidence that the subject saw the line, but that his con- 
sciousness refused to recognize its existence. 

Sixth. — All sorts of hallucinatory impressions may be 
produced upon the sense of hearing. The subject's hearing 



200 HYPNOTISM. 

may be made abnormally acute, or he may be made to hear 
things which do not exist. This peculiar sub-conscious 
condition, when not interfered with by suggestion, renders 
the sense of hearing peculiarly, nay, pathologically, acute. 
A hypnotized subject is much more sensitive to music. It 
has for him a deeper meaning than for the normal mind. 
There is, indeed, yet unexplored a vast field for experimen- 
tation in this direction. 

The East Indian fakirs invariably invoke the aid 
of music to enable them to enter the subjective state when 
they are about to give an exhibition of occult power. In 
fact, the power of music over the hypnotized mind is prac- 
tically unlimited. It speaks the universal language of the 
soul and is comprehended alike by prince and peasant. It 
is the most powerful auxiliary of love, of religion, and 
of war. It nerves the soldier to deeds of heroism, and 
soothes his dying moments. It inspires alike the devotee 
of pleasure and the worshipper to God. But while it 
interprets every human emotion and embodies the inward 
feeling of which all other arts can but exhibit the outward 
eifect, its laws are fixed ; but the fact remains that music 
can produce remarkable effects upon hypnotized subjects, 
and gives to the subjective consciousness a psychological 
importance which it has never occupied before, and un- 
doubtedly the future will prove that this field is rich with 
yet undiscovered treasures. 

Seventh.— Hallucinations and delusions of taste and 
smell in a hypnotized subject can also be produced by 
suggestion, but they possess no special value, but are inter- 
esting when subjects are hypnotized for the amusement 
of others. A rose will be smelled, (imaginary) perfumes 
commented upon, water will be called wine, in fact, any 



HYPNOTISM. 20I 

suggested smell or taste will appear real to the hypnotized 
one. 

Eighth. — The power of speech may be wholly 
abolished or partially inhibited, and certain words will be 
forgotten at command while the hypnotic state lasts. Also, 
the memory of a printed page or the memory of certain 
letters may be forgotten. 

Dr. Cocke, says: "I once hypnotized a man and 
made him read all of his a's as b's, his y's as v's, and 
his b's as x's. I added suggestion after suggestion so 
rapidly that it would have been impossible for him to have 
remembered simply what I said and call the letters as I 
directed. Simulation was in this case impossible, as I 
made him read fifteen pages, he calling the letters as 
suggested each time they occurred. 

Ninth. — The function of the individual organs, while 
hypnotized, play no small part in hypnotism. The 
alterations which we find in hypnosis affect the voluntary 
and involuntary muscles as well as the organs of sense, 
common sensation, the secretions, metabolism, and in rare 
cases also the cell power of organization. 

The voluntary muscles show the most frequent abnor- 
malities, and suggestion exercises a most extraordinary 
influence over their function during hypnosis. First of all, 
what is the state of the function of the voluntary muscles 
during hypnosis, when no kind of external influence is 
exercised. There are the greatest differences, according to 
the method of hypnotization selected, and according to the 
character of the subject. Some are able to move with 
perfect freedom during hypnosis till the command of the 
experimenter inhibits some particular movement ; many, on 
the contrary, look as if they were asleep. In this case, we 



202 HYPNOTISM. 

see no movements, or very rare ones, which are slow and 
labored. Even when the hypnotists suggest movement, he 
rarely accomplishes it, when the patient is in this state 
of hypnosis. It is to be understood that between complete 
freedom of movement and the incapacity to move at all, 
there exists all sorts of transitional stages. It is all the 
same which of these characters has the preponderance ; 
muscular activity can nearly always be influenced in a high 
degree by suggestion. By means of it, we can make 
the existing movements impossible, or induce previously 
impossible ones. 

* ' I can make his arm powerless to move, ' ' says Dr. 
Moll, "simply by arousing in him the conviction that the 
arm is powerless. In just the same way, the movements 
of the legs, trunk, larynx, and so on, escape the sub- 
ject's control. 'You cannot raise your arm ; cannot put 
out your tongue.' This suffices to make the forbidden 
movement impossible. In some cases the inability to move 
arises because the subject cannot voluntarily contract his 
muscles ; while in other cases a contracture of the antagon- 
istic muscles makes every attempt at voluntary movement 
useless." 

The power of speech can also be taken away. And it 
is even possible to allow the muscles to contract for one 
particular purpose only. If we say to a hypnotic subject, 
* ' You can only say your name ; for the rest you are 
absolutely dumb," the desired effect will most surely be 
produced. In the same way it is impossible to prevent 
movements of the arms for one particular purpose. Thus 
we can make it impossible for a person to write, though 
he will be able to do any other kind of work. The 
subject can sew, play the piano, etc., but all efforts to 



HYPNOTISM. 203 

write are vain. The movement only becomes possible 
at the moment when the experimenter gives permission. 
It Is remarkable that In some persons one set of muscles 
Is easier to Influence by suggestion, and In others another 
set. For example, we can make a person dumb by sug- 
gestion, while all the other muscles obey his will In spite 
of suggestion. Another, again loses the power of moving 
his arms at once, while his speech remains unaffected. 

In the same way muscular movements are prevented 
by suggestion. The hypnotist says : * You are Hfting your 
arm to lay it on your head.' This happens at once. 
The movement with the subject's will can often be distin- 
guished from those against it by a certain steady ease. 
These last are nearly always characterized by strong 
muscular contractions, and by trembling, which shows the 
intense effort not to obey the will of the hypnotist. 

Just m the same way the hypnotic subject Is obliged 
to cough, laugh, talk, jump, etc., at command. It is 
further possible to generate by suggestion the idea of 
paralysis of one of the extremities. According to Lober, 
Gilles de la Tourette, and Richer, the clinical characteristics 
of these paralyses are marked by the absolute loss of 
motor power and sensation, Increase of the tendon reflexes, 
ankle clonus, wrist clonus, complete loss of muscular sense, 
/. ^., of the ability to control perfectly the action of the 
muscles, and to be certain of the position of the limbs, 
charged electrical excitability, and vasomotor disturbances ; 
these last are particularly said to show themselves by a 
bright flush of the skin on slight stimulation. These 
paralyses can be produced in both the hypnotic and post- 
hypnotic state. 

Tenth. — "With subjects who are deprived of will. 



204 HYPNOTISM. 

besides the movements described above, complicated move- 
ments, or even performamces, also take place by suggestion. 
"I say to the subject," Dr. Moll says : 

"Spin round three times," and he cannot help doing 
so. 'You lift that book from the table,' and he lifts it. 
The subject cannot help performing the command." 

*' The suggestion itself is made in different ways. The 
main pointy and all turns upon this^ is that the subject should 
thoroughly understand what the experimenter wishes. Each 
of the organs of sense is a door of entrance for sugges- 
tion. The most common is naturally our habitual means 
of communication, by means of which we tell the sub- 
ject what we wish. But it is very important, and much 
more effective than words alone, that the experimenter 
should accompany his words by a performance of the move- 
ment which the subject is intended to execute. Consequently 
professional hypnotizers habitually induce movements by 
imitation." 

Eleventh. — Imitation appears particularly in a hyp- 
notic state, which certain authors (Bremaud, Marselli, 
Tauzi) have thoroughly studied, and which Descourties 
calls Fascination. A professional hypnotizer, Donata, has 
demonstrated this state completely ; and Morselli and 
others have on this account called this form of hypnosis 
Donatism. 

' ' This process aims at a primary forced contracture of 
all the muscles of the body, in order, by this means, to 
limit the voluntary movements as much as possible. In 
this case the eyes of the hypnotist and the subject are 
firmly fixed on one another. The subject finally follows 
every movement of the experimenter. If he goes back- 
ward, the subject follows ; if he comes forward, the subject 



HYPNOTISM, 205 

does the same. In the same way, the latter imitates every 
movement of the experimenter, only on the conditions, 
however, that he knows he is intended to do so. We 
see here, as in the fascination experiments, that fascination 
may become a primary form of hypnosis." 



2o6 HYPNOTISM. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HYPNOTISM. 

The Wonders of Hypnotism Continued — Catalepsy — Automatic 
Movement — The Phenomena of Imitative Speech — Hemi- 
Hypnosis — Increased Sensitiveness of Hypnotic Subjects — 
Hyperaesthesia of the Eye — Suggestion and Hypnosis — 
Circulation and Respiration in Hypnotism — Memory in 
Hypnotism — Hypermnesia. 

As the most different views exist as to what ' Catalepsy ' 
means, for the sake of brevity, we give Dr. Moll's defin- 
ition, "Any state in which voluntary movements disappear 
and the limbs remain as they are placed by the experi- 
menter, without having regard to the length of time which 
elapses before the limbs move freely again, or fall from their 
own weight. " 

Twelfth. — The muscular sense, which keeps us 
informed of the position of our limbs, requires particular 
consideration as a way of entrance for suggestion. It 
causes the phenomenon which the school of Nancy calls 
' catalepsy by suggestion.' It is very common in hypnosis, 
and is shown in the following example : Professor Bern- 
heim says, *' I lift the arm of a hypnotic, hold it in the 
air, and then let go ; the arm remains as I placed it 
although I say nothing. Why does this happen ? Because 



HYPNOTISM, 207 

the subject believes he must leave his arm thus, and 
because this suggestion was conveyed to him by the 
muscular sense. Another person let his arm fall ; I raise 
it again, and say at the same time, * the arm keeps 
still,' which happens ; but only because the person now 
knows that this is intended, while he did not under- 
stand the simple raising of the arm. The legs, head, trunk, 
etc., can be put into the most different postures and 
maintained there in exactly the same way ; the muscular 
sense here is the only transmitter of the suggestion." 

The inclination of the subject to maintain cataleptic 
positions is so great, that Heidenhain considered the 
hypnotic state to be a catalepsy artificially produced. Cat- 
alepsy by suggestion has nothing whatever to do with 
physical alteration of the muscles. 

The main point for the attainment of catalepsy is that 
the subject should accept the idea of the corresponding 
attitude. Consequently the idea must take root before the 
desired result can be attained. For this purpose some 
means or other must be employed to allow it to operate 
during a certain period. Words answer the purpose as 
well as other signs ; many persons can only be thrown into 
catalepsy from suggestion when the attitude required is 
maintained for some time. 

Catalepsy is the part of hypnosis that the platform 
experimenters use the most successfully, as to those who 
know nothing of hypnotism it appears perhaps the most 
wonderful. And then so many novel things can be done 
with the subject while in this hypnotic state. One of the 
best known features in hypnosis is the rigidity of the whole 
body. There is sometimes a complete tonic contracture 
of nearly all the voluntary muscles, through which the 



2o8 HYPNOTISM. 

head, neck, trunk and legs become as stiff as a board. A 
well-known experiment can be carried out in this state — 
the head can be placed on one chair and the feet on 
another, and the body will not double up. A heavy 
weight, that of a man, for example, may even be placed 
upon the body without bending it. It is well to make 
passes over the body, as the stiffening is most easily 
induced by this means, and it cannot always be induced 
by mere verbal suggestion. A command from the experi- 
menter is generally sufficient to put an end to the rigidity. 

Thirteenth. — A deeper degree of hypnosis seems to 
be required for the production of automatic movement tkan 
for simple catalepsy. Both arms are lifted horizontally and 
rotated one about the other. The subject keeps on moving 
them spontaneously or in obedience to a command. In 
cases of deep sleep these automatic movements occur 
through imitation. ''I stand in front of a patient," says 
Prof Bernheim, '* and turn my arms one above the other. 
The subject imitates me. I make the movement in the 
opposite direction ; he does the same." 

Fourteenth. — The phenomena of imitative speech 
is also one of the features of hypnosis. Berger says that 
hypnotics will repeat every thing that is said before them, 
like phonographs ; even what is said in foreign languages 
is repeated with some exactness. The notion that only 
certain tracts of the bodily surface must be stimulated 
in order to produce this repetition, Heidenhain, and 
Berger, consider a mistake, the result of insufficient acquaint- 
ance with suggestion. They believe that the hypnotic 
echoes what he believes he is intended to echo. It is cer- 
tain that some persons are able to perform great feats 
in this way, imitating a hitherto unknown language quickly 



1 



HYPNOTISM. 209 

and correctly. The main point is, that the hypnotic should 
know he is intended to repeat the sound. Certain reflexes, 
which are supposed to be induced by touching the head, 
the appearance of aphasia, or of twitching or contractures 
in the arm or leg on touching certain parts of the cranium, 
should be understood in the same way ; statements of this 
kind were made by Heidenhain, and have been repeated 
lately by Silva, Binet, and Fere. 

Fifteenth. — Another wonderful point is, that it is 
possible to induce hemi-hypnosis, or hypnosis of one side 
of the body, by suggestion, or to influence each half 
of the body in a different way. It was known even to 
Braid, that by blowing on one eye the corresponding 
side would be awakened. Descourtis, Charcot, Dumont- 
PaUier, Berillon, Lepine and Strohl, carried on these 
experiments in various modified forms. Though these 
authors regard hemi-hypnosis as a physiological condition 
induced by the closing of one eye or by friction of one- 
half of the crown of the head, their statements do not 
now prove their point. But, we know that we can pro- 
duce all these states by mental influence, and suggestion 
must be excluded before the experiments can be considered 
conclusive. 

Sixteenth. — The senses of pressure and temperature 
become much more delicate in hypnosis than in normal 
condition. "The hypnotic recognizes things half an inch 
distant from the skin, and this simply by the increase and 
decrease of temperature," says Braid. "He walks about 
a room with bandaged eyes or in absolute darkness 
without striking against anything, because he recognizes 
objects by the resistance of the air, and by the alteration 
of the temperature." 



2IO HYPNOTISM. 

Bergson has described one of the most remarkable 
cases of increased power of vision. * ' This particular case 
has been cited as a proof of supersensual thought-trans- 
ference ; but Bergson ascribes the result to hyperaesthesia 
of the eye. In this case, the hypnotic was able to read 
letters in a book which were 3 MM. high ; the reading 
was made possible by a reflected image of these letters 
in the eye of the experimenter. According to calcula- 
tion the reflected image could only have been OT MM. 
(=1/250 inch) high. The same person was able, without 
using the microscope, to see and draw the cells in a 
microscopical specimen, which were only o'o6 MM. in 
diameter. Souvaire, after some not quite irreproachable 
experiments, suppose the existence of such a hyperaes- 
thesia of sight, that a hypnotic recognized non-transparent 
playing cards by the rays of light passing through them. 
A case of Tagnets, in which an ordinary piece of card- 
board was used as a mirror, is said to . have proved 
quite as strong a hyperaesthesia. All objects which were 
held so that the reflected rays from the card fell upon 
the subject's eye were clearly recognized. The same thing 
is shown by a great increase of the sense of smell. A visit- 
ing card is torn into a number of pieces, which pieces are 
professedly found purely by the sense of smell ; pieces 
belonging to another card are rejected. The subjects give 
gloves, keys, and pieces of money to the person to whom 
they belong, guided only by the smell." 

Seventeenth. — Suggestion is, perhaps, the greatest 
of all the wonders of hypnosis ; for without suggestion, 
hypnotism can accompHsh little ; while with suggestion, 
no man can yet tell the wonders that lay before us, in 
the undiscovered forces of hypnosis. 



HYPNOTISM. 211 

Dr. Moll, says: ''Suggestion influences common sen- 
sation in the same way as the functions of the organs 
of sense. Nothing worthy of remarks takes place in 
hypnosis, unless suggestion is called into play. I may, 
however, mention the feeling of fatigue which many 
hypnotics experience ; it sometimes appears in the lightest 
hypnosis, and may also exist in the deeper stages. We 
can influence common sensations very materially by sug- 
gestion in hypnosis. This is not surprising when we 
consider that it is exactly the common sensations which 
are most under the influence of mental processes. It is 
in this direction that suggestion has to record its most 
striking successes, since the common sensations, of which 
pain is one, are the cause of most of the complaints we 
hear. As pain, etc., can be induced by suggestion, so by 
suggestion it can often be banished. I say to a subject who 
complains of want of appetite, ' The loss of appetite has 
disappeared ; you are hungry.' I can cause another to feel 
thirst. Feelings of pleasure can likewise be excited." 

The state of mind which is intimately connected with 
common sensation can also be influenced by suggestion. 
It is consequently easy to induce either sadness or cheer- 
fulness in hypnosis. The method of hypnotization has 
some influence here. The desires and aflections can be 
controlled in hypnosis as well as the moods. Love and 
hate, anxiety, anger and fear, can be easily called up, 
and produce corresponding expressions and postures in 
the hypnotic. 

Eighteenth. — One more word about the circulation 
and respiration in hypnotism. 

According to Braid, the pulse and respiration are at 
first slower than normal ; but as soon as the muscles are 



212 HYPNOTISM. 

put into activity a tendency to cataleptiform rigidity is 
produced, with increase of the pulse rate and rapid and 
laborious respiration. According to his experiments, the 
increase of the pulse rate caused by the muscular effort 
which the person makes normally, in order to keep, his 
legs and arms extended for five minutes, is about twenty 
per cent. In the hypnotic condition it is one hundred 
per cent. If, then, all the senses are excited, if the 
muscles of the head and neck are put into a catalepti- 
form condition simultaneously with the limbs, there is a 
rapid fall to forty per cent, (that is, twice as much as 
the increase during the normal condition). If the muscles 
are allowed to relax again, the subject still remaining in the 
hypnotic state, the pulse falls rapidly to its rate before the 
experiment, and even below it. Further, during the catal- 
eptiform rigidity the pulse is slow and small, and at the 
same time, a sudden injection of the ocular conjunctiva 
of the capillaries of the head, neck and face occurs. Braid 
thinks that the rigidity of the cataleptic muscles prevents 
the free transmission of blood to the extremities, and 
thus causes an increase of the cardiac action and hypersemia 
of the brain and spinal cord. 

Other authors have, like Braid, observed modifica- 
tions of the cardiac and respiratory function. In a case 
of hypnotic lethargy reported in a thesis at Strasburg, 
Pan de St. Martin noticed the increase of the pulse and 
respiration, the diminution of the vascular tension and 
profuse perspiration. 

By means of more precise methods, Heldenhain reached 
the same results, and noticed besides an augmentation 
of the salivary secretion, and recently Tamburini and 
Seppili, with the graphic method, and Mosso's plethysmo- 



HYPNOTISM. 213 

graph, observed that at the time of transition from the 
waking condition to the hypnotic sleep, the respiratory- 
movements became irregular, unequal, and more frequent, 
the cardiac and vascular pulsation increased, and the face 
was congested. 

Dr. Hack-Tuke observed an acceleration of the cardiac 
and respiratory movements in one case ; in another, on 
the contrary, both remained unaffected. 

Dr. Bernheim, says on this same subject: **None of 
these symptoms are manifested by patients who are hyp- 
notized by the quiet suggestion method, and who retain 
their tranquility of mind ; nor by those who, having already 
been hypnotized several times, go to sleep with confidence 
and without emotion or agitation. Under these conditions 
I have observed neither increase nor diminution of the 
pulse rate, nor of the respiratory movements. I have 
recorded the pulse by the sphymograph before, and dur- 
ing hypnosis, and have found It to be the same at both 
times. Neither have I noticed the marked accelerations, 
which according to Braid, is produced by the catalepti- 
form rigidity which occurs in the extension of the limbs. 
It appears to me that no appreciable difference exists 
between the waking and the hypnotic condition." 

But the above only refers to the hypnotic state when 
brought about by the suggestive or Bernheim methods. 

Nineteenth. — Is the chain of memory in ordinary 
life broken by the hypnosis or not? It was formerly 
supposed that a break in the memory occurred, because 
the subject always forgot on awaking what had taken place 
during hypnosis. But this view has not proved correct. 

In the lighter hypnotic stages, especially in the first 
group, no abnormality of memory is found ; the subject 



214 HYPNOTISM. 

remembers everything in the hypnosis which concerns his 
normal Hfe, and after the hypnosis remembers all that 
has occurred. In the deeper hypnosis, it is very different ; 
they belong for the most part to the second group, and 
there is loss of memory after the hypnosis. The subject 
is much astonished when he hears what he has done 
during the hypnosis — that he has been running about, 
that he has had hallucinations, etc. Often, however, a dim 
memory persists, like the memory of a dream. Dr. Moll, 
says : " I suggest to some one the hallucination of a bird 
flying about the room ; the hypnotic tries to catch it, 
amuses himself for a long time with it, gives it sugar, puts 
it in an imaginary cage, and so on ; after waking, he dimly 
remembers that he had seen a bird, but that is all ; he 
certainly does not believe that he has left his seat." 

However, in some cases, chiefly in the deepest hypnosis, 
memory cannot be recalled by anything you can say or do. 
In such cases there is a complete loss of memory. On 
the other hand, the subject remembers in hypnosis all 
that has happened in previous hypnosis. Things that 
happened in hypnosis dating many years back, even as 
many as ten, may be recalled, although they are completely 
forgotten in the waking state. Wolfart, relates the case of 
a woman who remembered in the hypnotic sleep all that 
had taken place in a hypnotic sleep thirteen years before, 
although in the meantime she had never recollected it. 

''Events of normal life can also be. remembered in 
hypnosis, even when they have apparently been long 
forgotten. This increased power of memory is called 
hypermnesia. Benedikt relates a case of it. An English 
ofiicer, in Africa, was hypnotized by Hansen, and suddenly 
began to speak a strange language. This turned out 



HYPNOTISM. 215 

to be Welsh, which he had learned as a child, but had 
forgotten. Brewer and Frend point out, many cases 
of hysteria are called forth by some psychic moment that 
the patient cannot recall in the waking condition, though 
hypnosis may again bring it back to memory." 

All the phenomena which have been spoken of are 
very variable. Only the most common, and the most 
important have been mentioned. But hypnotic education 
or training needs to be accomplished with great care. 
Every one who watches hypnotic experiment should give it 
particular attention. All the phenomena of hypnosis may 
be interpreted falsely by a mere spectator, if sufficient 
attention is not paid to this point. When hypnotic 
experiments are shown to outsiders, subjects are as a rule 
selected who have gone through a hypnotic training in 
some particular direction, and as the directions are various, 
the results also are various. The Breslau investigations, for 
example, developed the imitative movements, while others 
did the same with the effects of the movements on the 
feelings {suggestions d'aiiitude). 

'* He who only regards the final results and pays no 
attention to their gradual evolution will be inclined to 
believe that the two parties of Investigators are engaged 
with different things ; though it is in reality only differ- 
ence in training which gives a different appearance to 
identical states. Each experimenter now only demonstrates 
such symptoms as he has cultivated by training, espe- 
cially as this training commonly produces most interesting 
phenomena, the heightening of certain faculties in par- 
ticular. The outsider is unaware that this is a mere 
result of hypnotic training, and is easily misled. Children 
who repeat to strangers the piece of poetry they know 



2i6 HYPNOTISM. 

best, do exactly the same thing. Experimenters produce 
certain objective symptoms by means of training, and any 
one seeing them for the first time is apt to make mis- 
takes. But every experimenter produces different objective 
symptoms — one, for example, a lasting catalepsy, another 
a perfect echolalie. These things strike the stranger, who 
cannot estimate the effect of training. Thus it happens 
that different experimenters discover different objective 
symptoms. The question of training is of immense import- 
ance. Many have suspected simulation because of the 
apparent variety of hypnotic states. This variety is really 
the result of different training, if we put aside difference 
of character. The experimenter influences the develop- 
ment of the hypnosis." 

''Training," says Dr. Moll "is the great source of 
error for the experimenter in hypnotism, because the subject 
is inclined to divine and obey his intentions, and thus 
unconsciously mislead him. Unknown to himself, the 
tone of the voice may induce the subject to prevent the 
phenomena which he expects. The subject is also greatly 
influenced by his surroundings, and by watching other 
subjects. Imitation is also of great importance here." 

Dr. Bertrand says : "I hypnotize X, and suggest that 
he cannot speak, at the same time inadvertently touching 
his left shoulder with my right hand. Y, in hypnosis, sees 
this, and every time I touch his left shoulder with my right 
he, too, is unable to speak. Y, believes that this is the 
signal for loss of speech, and behaves accordingly." 

Training enables a hypnotic subject to divine all the 
experimenter's wishes. The latter need not speak ; the 
least movement betrays his wish. A long training is not 
necessary. The object of making these remarks is to warn 



HYPNOTISM. 217 

against attributing great importance to demonstrations, 
particularly when these contain symptoms apparently 
objective and impossible to imitate. It should always be 
kept in mind that many such symptoms can be produced 
by training; and can, perhaps, be imitated by practice 
even without hypnosis. 

" Dr. Moll also adds : ** In most cases it is necessary to 
give the subject a hypnotic training, in order to make 
the state as deep as possible. For this, I wish to recom- 
mend a particular method, as otherwise the deepening is 
not always attained. Let the first suggestions be simple, so 
as not to shock the subject's sense of probability. The first 
suggestions should be possible, and progress should be 
gradual. More will be attained in this way than by 
suggesting impossible situations at first which the subject 
will not believe in. And if a suggestion is often declined, 
there Is apt to arise in the subject the auto- suggestion that 
he Is refractory to this suggestion, or perhaps to any sug- 
gestion. This is often lastingly prejudicial, and may lessen 
susceptibility to suggestion in all later hypnosis. I there- 
fore strongly recommend a slow and gradually increasing 
method for post- hypnotic suggestion." 

This concludes the symptoms of hypnosis. We have 
seen that symptoms are of manifold kinds, and that they 
are hardly ever identical in two different persons. In 
spite of conformity to law one human body is never 
exactly like another, the mental state of one man is 
never exactly like another's. It is the same In hypnosis: 
one man displays this symptom with greater clearness, 
another that. We shall never be able to find a subject 
in whom all the symptoms are united, just as we cannot 
find a patient who has all the symptoms of an illness 
as they are theoretically described. 



2i8 HYPNOTISM 



CHAPTER XV. 
HYPNOTISM. 

[From the New York Journal, June, 1899.] 

A Boy who can see straight through your clothes to your very 
Bones — How he has diagnosed Diseases which puzzled Physi- 
cians — Described Internal Disorders which Science had no 
way of finding out, and explained Fractures of Bones which 
the Doctors did not suspect— Physicians confronted with a 
Scientific Phenomenon which it is impossible to explain. 

The most remarkable feat that has ever been performed 
through hypnotism has just been made public through the 
efforts of one of the most widely read and enterprising 
dailies of New York, from which we make the follow- 
ing interesting extracts : 

The narrative of facts herewith related would seem 
utterly beyond belief were the facts not solemnly vouched 
for by some of the best known physicians of Boston. Briefly 
stated, it may be said that the human eye can see through 
the usual clothing, underclothing and flesh of man, and to 
observe the bones and internal organs as clearly and as 
accurately as the ordinary eye reads a newspaper. 

The eleven-year-old boy who performs this scientific 
miracle is the son of a Massachusetts physician. Dr. Frank 
Wallace Brett. Not as a freak or an idle test of the 



HYPNOTISM. 2ig 

possibilities of sight have the experiments been conducted, 
but for the diagnosis of disease. Some of the actual 
scientific accomplishments of this extraordinary boy are 
presented in the exact words of the Massachusetts physi- 
cians who tested his powers. Science has, apparently, come 
face to face with new phenomena and a broadened horizon 
of the human eye which were hitherto unsuspected and 
which no one is able to explain. 

By Dr. John S. Flagg, former Dean of Faculty of Phy- 
sicians and Surgeons: "I have watched the case of the 
Brett boy for over a year with great interest. I was present 
in person at one of the first experiments performed upon 
him by his father. In his hypnotic state, the boy answered 
questions put to him by his father in a manner which did 
not admit of deception, and into which, I am satisfied, tele- 
pathy had no part, for some of his answers to expert medical 
questions surpassed even the medical acquaintance of his 
own father. The workings of the sensory and motive 
nerves-^^rom the brain to and from the upper extremities 
was correctly described, and his correctly locating the 
double nerve centres, which modern science has agreed 
to accept as true, was a complete surprise to his father 
himself. 

*'In all, the boy correctly described nine separate 
instances of his father's interior economy, and, so far as 
I could observe, he was correct in every instance. He 
also compared his father's heart and liver with my own 
without the slightest possible chance for deception. 

" A broken right arm which I had when a child seemed 
to puzzle him for some time, but that was not at all to be 
wondered at, since the accident had occured when I was but 
four years of age, and the only trace of it was a slight 



220 HYPNOTISM. 

thickening of the bone. It is exceedingly difficult to 
account for this singular gift of the boy. In default of other 
explanation might it not be assumed that this peculiar 
vision of the boy may be simply a reversion to a gift of the 
primordial man out of which the ages have evoluted him ? 
I am not a spirituahst, and am a member of the Society 
of Psychical Research. The only interest I take in these 
stray instances of supernormal happenings — or what pro- 
fesses to be supernormal — is strictly in a scientific sense. 
(Signed) John S. Flagg, M. D." 

By Dr. Frank L. Burt, Head Physician Union General 
Hospital of Boston: " I have known the Brett boy, through 
his father, for the last two years. Dr. Brett I have known 
for about six years. I consider him a man of the highest 
integrity and absolutely truthful. In two instances I have 
been present at the marvelous experiments of the Brett 
boy, and in both cases deception was impossible. 

*'The first occurred here in my study, at the hospital, 
in the month of February of the current year. The Brett 
boy and his father, the doctor, were visiting me, and my 
head matron, Mrs. Randall, entered the room. She was 
suffering at the time from what both she and I supposed was 
a heavy cold. She had heard of the peculiar power attrib- 
uted to the Brett boy, and jokingly asked Dr. Brett to 
allow the boy to make a physical examination of herself 
The doctor acquiesced, and the boy at once passed under 
the hypnotic trance. The boy turned his large widely 
opened eyes in her direction and looked at her fixedly for 
about a minute, when he said aloud to his father: 

* Oh, papa, I can see a great big sore in her lungs, 
just where they come together. And it looks around 
it as if the lungs had been bleeding.' 



HYPNOTISM. 221 

^'This was all he said this time, Mrs. Randall not 
wishing to hear more. When the boy and his father 
had gone she told me that she had had two hemorrhages a 
day or two prior to the boy's visit, but she had attached 
no particular fear to them, thinking that the blood had 
come from the stomach. At that time she was apparently 
in the best of health, and there never was a nurse in 
any of the hospitals of Boston who excelled her in the 
use of Ether prior to an operation. On the first day 
of June she died of what people call quick consumption. 

* ' The other instance was in a matter relating to my 
own personality. A short time after the boy's examina- 
tion of Mrs. Randall, I asked his father to allow him 
to examine me. He consented, and the boy looked me 
over slowly. He told me — I do not remember his exact 
words — that I was about to be troubled with my kidneys. 
This I already knew of, and was in no way surprised, 
but when he concentrated his gaze upon the abdomen 
and described to me a certain formation there, of which 
I myself was unaware, I was struck with amazement. 
That this condition did exist at the time, I have since 
proved by experiments and treatment. I am entirely 
satisfied that the boy is not deceiving his father or any 
one else, and believe that he is the possessor of. some super- 
normal force, the nature of which I have never before seen 
exemplified. (Signed) Frank L. Burt, M. D." 

By Professor William A. Barnes, Member of Faculty 
of College of Physicians and Surgeons: "Dr. Frank W. 
Brett, of South Braintree, is a personal friend of mine and a 
former pupil. I taught him hypnotism in the medical 
school. I have known of the experiments upon his eldest 
boy for at least a year. I have personally been a witness 



222 HYPNOTISM, 

of an exhibition of the boy's peculiar power. This occurred 
in my own office, in obeying a command from his father. 

'*He examined Mrs. Barnes (my wife), whom he had 
never before seen, to either her or my knowledge, and 
correctly diagnosed a broken ankle, the result of an 
accident when she was a girl. He located the ankle, 
described its present state, and gave certain evidences of 
having — it might or might not have been — a mental picture 
of the ankle before him. 

*' His eyes were wide open and fixed staringly upon the 
ankle in question during the time he was speaking. 

''There is no question of the authenticity of this strange 
gift. As a professional hypnotist I am, of course, well 
aware that the visions and answers returned to the ques- 
tioning of the hypnotist are wholly the result of telepathy, 
but in this case there is no evidence of this whatever. 
This boy SEES portions of the human anatomy which 
the ordinary man or woman are unable to see, and answers 
questions concerning them. His father, the hypnotist, 
could not have suggested my wife's broken ankle to him, 
since he did not even know of it. I have as yet formulated 
no theory concerning his marvelous faculty. 

(Signed) William A. Barnes, A. M." 

Narrative of Dr. Brett, the boy's father: "South 
Braintree, Mass., June 23. — 'Oh, papa, I can see your 
bones ! ' This was the exclamation of little Afley Leonel 
Brett, the eleven-year-old son of Dr. Frank Wallace Brett, 
in the November of 1897, just before regaining his senses 
after a hypnotic trance, induced by his father. 

"And he could. He proved it then and there. He 
has proven it hundreds of times since, and again this 
afternoon, in the parlor of his father's house, he proved 



HYPNOTISM. 223 

it for the last time upon the person of the Journal cor- 
respondent himself. 

* ' The boy is not only the marvel of the town, but 
of all the surrounding country. Boston has heard of him, 
and New York, and to-day, his father received an offer 
from a celebrated New York specialist for the services of 
his son in the diagnosis of a difficult case in the metropolis. 

''Afley (from the Greek verb 'Aphleo') Leonel Brett, 
who possesses this wonderful faculty, is a small school- 
boy, who will not have attained the age of twelve years 
until next August. To look at him, one fails to see just 
wherein he differs from any other schoolboy of his age 
and condition, excepting, perhaps, that he is far better 
looking than the majority. But he has a good looking 
father and a handsome mother, and that would account for 
this. But it will not account for the fact — used advisedly 
— that, when hypnotized by his father, the eyes of this 
boy possess all the wonderful faculties of the Roentgen 
rays. Outside clothing, linen, underwear, the human 
skin and flesh itself, are as nothing in his sight. The 
bones of the subject stand out in bold relief, and the 
organs of the person upon whom he may be looking 
are spread before him as though on a chart. Further- 
more—and most important of all — these miraculous eyes 
behold the human anatomy in its true colors, red, white 
brown, even to the blue of the venous blood. This is 
impossible with the X rays. Under its use everything 
appears of the same shade. 

"But this supernormal gift entails its responsibilities. 
The boy is unable to remain under the hypnotic influence 
for longer than fifteen minutes at a time, and when awakened 
by his father from the trance is at first weak and faint. 



224 HYPNOTISM. 

It is undoubtedly a strain upon his nervous system, and 
wisely has his father decided not to ask him to undergo it 
oftener than once a week. This afternoon, for the benefit 
of the readers of the Journal, Dr. Brett allowed his won- 
derful boy to illustrate his marvelous faculty." 

**To begin with," said Dr. Brett, "I myself knew 
nothing of this gift of my boy until the month of Nov- 
ember, 1897, when, one afternoon, upon coming out of a 
hypnotic state into which I had cast him, he made use 
of this curious expression, * Oh, papa, I can see your 
bones ! ' Of course, at first, I thought it was only an 
illusion, but when he began to describe lo me my anat- 
omy as though he had it spread out before him on a chart, 
I began to realize that I was on the verge of a mighty 
discovery. The idea of anything supernatural did not occur 
to me — I am not in any sense a spiritualist. I do not claim 
that this is supernatural. I only say that it must be super- 
normal, as neither the doctors with whom I have talked 
over the case nor I myself have ever heard of a similar 
case. 

* ' .Since the time of the first discovery of his gift, Leo, as 
his mother and I call him, has demonstrated it in probably 
a hundred instances. In the presence of Professor John S. 
Flagg, of Boston, a member of the faculty of the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons, Leo plainly saw and indi- 
cated the brain flashes of the sensory and motor nerves 
from the brain centres to the arm, and back again. 
And, as if to make the evidence doubly sure, he indicated 
by his fingers the very spots in the cerebrum as the origin 
places of the flashes in which scientists have agreed are 
located the centres for controlling the movements of the 
upper extremities. 



HYPNOTISM, 225 

"The experiments I am about to now reveal to you 
have been made within the past year, and some of them 
within the past week. Only so recently as Thursday of 
last week, June 15, I was called into consultation with Drs. 
Chase and Allen, of Randolph, in the case of the three- 
year-old daughter of Mr. F. H. Libby, of that town. The 
child had been playing in the yard with some of the older 
children, and they said that they had seen her swallow a 
cent. When questioned at length, they stuck to the story, 
and the first two doctors who were called in physicked 
the child very strongly. Dr. Chase, who was the last 
physician called by the parents of the suffering child, called 
Dr. Allen into consultation, and later they both called me 
into it. The question came up at once whether the little 
one had or had not swallowed the coin. We were unable 
to agree, and, with the consent of my brother physicians, 
I was allowed to introduce Leo into the case. I hyp- 
notized him, and asked him to examine the organs of 
the apparently dying child, as she lay stretched upon 
the bed before him. He almost at once declared there 
was no cent in the child's stomach or intestines, but 
that there was a mass of some kind, just below the 
pylorus. Furthermore, he told us that the intestines of 
the little girl were red and inflamed for a considerable 
distance. Of course, the violent physicking of the child 
would account for this. On the evening of that day 
the child died, and Drs. Chase and Allen and myself 
performed an autopsy on the body the next day (Friday). 
We found no cent in the body, but we did find the mass (of 
fibrous tissue) just below the pylorus, as Leo had described. 

''Last winter, Leo was with me one day when I was 
calling upon the family of Dr. Allen, mentioned in the last 



226 HYPNOTISM. 

experiment, and Mrs. Allen, the doctor's wife, asked him if 
he could describe her ailments. He said that he thought 
he could, and I hypnotized him. He at once began to 
describe all the symptoms of gouty rheumatism, even 
going so far as to describe the chalky deposits in the 
joints. He also described the thickening and inflamma- 
tion of the right sciatic nerve. The diagnosis, according 
to Dr. Allen himself, was exactly right. Mrs. Allen had 
been for years a sufferer from gouty rheumatism, and 
especially from sciatic rheumatism on the right side. To 
test him further, before I released him from the trance, 
Mrs. Allen asked him whether or not she had eaten her 
dinner. ' I think so, ' said Leo. ' Your stomach looks as 
though it were filled with dishwater (chyme).' 

"One of the strongest and at the same time most 
emphatic experiments that Leo has ever performed was 
that of the case of Mrs. Randall. In the month of 
February last while visiting in Boston, I brought my 
boy to see Dr. F. H. Burt, an old medical friend of mine, 
who is the head of Bart's Hospital, of Massachusetts 
Avenue. Dr. Burt was already acquainted with Leo's 
peculiarities, and we were, if I remember, talking about 
them when the matron of the establishment, Mrs. Randall, 
entered the office. The doctor had spoken to her of 
Leo Brett, and she was anxious to test him. She was 
then a fine figure of a woman, stout, well set up and 
apparently in the best of health with the exception of 
a somewhat toublesome cough. Dr. Burt introduced Leo 
to her, and she said to him, * Do you think you could 
tell what is the matter with me?' *Yes, I think so,' 
said the boy. I hypnotized him and told him to examine 
her. ' Papa,' said the boy, after a minute, ' I can see a 



HYPNOTISM. 227 

great big sore in her lung, just where the two are joined 
together, and around it it looks as though it had been 
bleeding.' That was enough for Mrs. Randall. She left 
the office in a hurry, and when she had gone the doctor 
told me that she had had two hemorrhages within a 
week, although she made little of them. That was in 
February. On June i, I had received a note from Dr. 
Burt telling me that Mrs. Randall had just died from 
hasty consumption. 

''The next experiment is, perhaps, at once the most 
interesting and convincing of any in which Leo has taken 
a part. I cannot give you the name of the patient — she is 
one of my own private patients, and I am well acquainted 
with her family. Although I do not make her name 
public, I do not wish it to be understood that she is not 
willing to substantiate my statements. If necessary, she 
will come forward to back me up. 

''The patient in question, is an elderly lady of per- 
haps sixty years of age. She came to me from out of 
town to have her case diagnosed. She had been to many 
doctors, and they had almost unanimously pronounced her 
disease to be a cancer of the liver. Of course, this 
meant certain death, and a very painful one. I refused to 
declare my diagnosis until Leo had been called into my 
study to aid. * Leo,' said I, ' I want you to compare this 
lady's liver with mine.' In hardly a minute the boy 
answered, to quote his own words, * Why, papa, her liver, 
is much larger than yours. Besides, yours is smooth, 
while hers is all covered with bunches like hubbly ice. 
Yours is brown, while hers is brown all streaked with 
white, like fancy chocolate cake. The white stuff looks 
to me like candle grease.' 



228 HYPNOTISM. 

' ' That was sufficient. The correct source of her trouble 
had been shown to me. She was suffering from amyloid 
degeneration of the liver, which, while dangerous, is 
distinctly not cancer. This, notwithstanding the diagnoses 
of all the other physicians she has visited. I am now 
treating this patient for the above disease, and it has at 
least made no progress. Had it been a case of cancer of 
the Hver she would have been dead long ago. 

"Just one more before I close. There came to me 
in September, 1898, a married lady of about thirty-five, 
suffering from what I was convinced was valvular dis- 
ease of the heart. So far as a physician can I examined 
her with the stethoscope, and her condition appeared to 
me to be alarming ; so much so, in fact, that I was at 
a loss to understand how she managed to be alive at 
all. To obtain a clear idea, with the patient's consent, 
I called Leo into the consultation room and told him to 
examine the lady's heart. In a minute, he said : 'I can 
see her heart and the valves. One of them opens slowly, 
as though it were stiff and tired. Sometimes it shuts, 
and sometimes it does not. When it don't the blood 
runs back.' I asked him, 'Why, how many valves are 
you looking at?' 'Three, of course,' was his reply; 
'the other two are all right.' " 

"This testimony," concluded the doctor, "ought to 
be enough to convince any one of the boy's abnormal 
gifts. As I said before, I do not claim the boy's peculiar 
ability as supernatural. I do not believe in the super- 
natural. But I do say that they are supernormal." 

"Doctor," said the Journal correspondent, " will you 
allow your boy to examine me to see whether there is 
anything the matter with me or not?" 



HYPNO TISM. 229 

"It is strictly against my rule," said the doctor, 
"but perhaps it may serve a useful purpose in the end. 
Leo, I am going to ask you to examine this gentleman. 
Now, close your eyes. (A minute elapsed.) Now, open 
them; look at him, and tell me what you see." 

"The boy was standing leaning on the back of a 
chair with a serious, eager sort of expression on his 
face. While he appeared to be entirely conscious of 
others in the room, his fixed, concentrated attention 
was centered on the Journal man. Slowly he began to 
speak in his natural voice. ' I see nothing at all the 
matter with him, but I think there has been something 
the matter with one of his arms a long time ago. It's 
the right one. Ah, now I see more clearly (as the sun 
shone out from behind a cloud). It has been broken 
in two places at the wrist. And besides, the muscles 
and chords look as though they had been wrenched 
from where they ought to have been, and they look to 
me as though they never had gone back • again. The 
place where the break was in the top of the wrist looks 
as if the bones had been grown into one. It's a funny 
sort of a looking arm, anyway." 

"Snap! went the doctor's finger, and the boy came 
to his normal senses in a second. He looked rather 
frightened, as though he had been doing something he 
ought not to ; but this expression only lasted a minute. 
In another minute he was out in the yard and away on 
his bicycle. 

" For the benefit of Journal readers, the Journal 
correspondent will explain that, fifteen years ago, when 
a schoolboy, his right arm was broken in two places 
at the wrist, precisely as Leo Brett described it. The 



230 HYPNOTISM. 

muscles and chords were also wrenched and bruised, 
and the swelling never entirely subsided, so that the 
boy's further description of the way that the arm looked 
was microscopic in its completeness. The Journal cor- 
respondent will also add that never in his life up. to 
to-day, had he ever met Dr. Brett and his boy Leo. 
Again, he was separated from, the boy by about seven 
feet. He wore his ordinary clothing, coat, linen and 
underwear, so that it was impossible for the boy to have 
in any way seen the arm." 

** Doctor, this is all very wonderful. But how do you 
account for the boy's gift ? " asked the Journal man. 

"I don't account for it," was the doctor's reply. 
"That is beyond my power. But let me tell you some- 
thing about his characteristics. In the first place, ever 
since he began to take notice of things, his mother and 
I have noticed his wonderful power of concentration, 
exclusion and application. Shortly after I begun to hyp- 
notize him, I early recognized that he would prove a 
wonderful hypnotic subject. I found that hypnotism seemed 
to develop this power of concentration still more, even to 
the point of excluding the sunlight My theory of his 
gift is that his retina, his optic thalmus or his mental 
perception must be something altogether out of the nor- 
mal, so much so that medical science has hitherto had 
no record of a similar case. 

"When I have asked him how things appear to him 
when hypnotized, he tells me that he sees a reddish- 
black background, with a pale green light irradiating 
the object at which he looks, emanating from it. This 
is exactly the same as the effect with the Crookes tube. 
Yet, when I introduced hmi to the fluoroscope at the 



HYPNOTISM. -31 

Mechanics' Fair in Boston last Fall, he threw it down 
in disgust, after a look, and said : ' Pooh ! I can see 
plainer than that with my own eyes ! ' 

*'Dr. Frank Wallace Brett, father of this wonderful 
boy, was born in the old Massachusetts town of Hing- 
ham. May 14, 1861. He graduated from the Hingham 
High School and from the Bridgewater Normal School, 
in the class of 1880. In 1882, he accepted the post of 
Principal of Hanover Academy, and taught there for six 
years, leaving in 1888 to become Principal of the Highland- 
ville (Needham) Avery Grammar School, where he taught 
for three and one-half years. He was graduated from the 
Boston College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1894, 
receiving the degree of M. D., and settled in South 
Braintree for the practice of his profession. ' ' 

Note. — The publisher of this book feels convinced that this 
boy's development is but the commencement of an era of many 
more similar cases, and trusts it will increase the interest in and 
study of the science of Hypnotism, perhaps by some that 
heretofore have pronounced it unworthy of investigation. 



•32 HYPNOTISM. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HYPNOTISM. 
The dangers of Hypnotism. 

Is hypnotism in itself dangerous to those submitted 
to it? Dr. Bernheim says: "From experience, I do 
not hesitate in stating that, when it is well-managed, it 
does not produce the slightest harm. It does not inter- 
fere with the functions of organic life ; we have seen that 
respiration and circulation are not influenced in subjects 
whose minds are at rest. If, in the first sittings, some 
subjects manifest nervous phenomena, such as muscular 
twitchings, shortness of breath, discomfort, acceleration of 
the pulse, and if some hysterical subjects have convulsive 
paroxysms during the operation, these symptoms, auto- 
suggestive so to speak, are due to moral emotions, to a 
sentiment of fear, and always disappear in the following 
treatment, thanks to a quieting suggestion which brings 
back confldence. When the habit has been formed, the 
subjects go to sleep peacefully and naturally and awake 
in the same way, without the slightest discomfort, if the 
operator has been careful to suggest no discomfort upon 
waking. ' ' 

** In my already long practice, I have never seen any 
harm produced by sleep induced according to our method. 




Figr. (6.) Three Persons passing: into Hypnotic Sleep. 
Origrinal Portraits. Copyright by M. Young, Aug. 1 899. 



HYPNOTISM. 233 

for the suggestion is always present as a corrective to 
any disagreeable symptoms which may arise." 

"There is a danger which it is important to recognize 
and which I am going to mention. After having been 
hypnotized a certain number of times, some subjects 
preserve a disposition to go to sleep spontaneously. 
Some have been hardly awakened when they fall to sleep 
again of themselves in the same hypnotic sleep. Others 
fall asleep thus during the day. This tendency to auto- 
hypnotization may be repressed by suggestion. It is 
sufficient to state to the subject during sleep that when 
once awakened, he will be completely awake, and will not 
be able to go to sleep again spontaneously during the day," 

** Others are too easily susceptible to hypnotization when 
they have often been put into somnambulism. The first 
comer may sometimes put them into this condition by 
surprise, simply closing their eyes. Such a susceptibility 
to hypnotism is a real danger. Delivered over to the mercy 
of anyone, deprived of psychical and moral resistance, 
certain somnambulists thus become weak and are moulded 
by the will of the suggestionists." 

''Those moralists who are careful of human dignity, 
and who are pre-occupied with thought of such great 
possibilities of danger, are in the right. They are right to 
condemn a practice which may rob man of his free-will 
without the possibility of resistance on his part ; they 
would be a thousand times right, if the remedy were not 
side by side with the evil. When we foresee such a tend- 
ency in our cases of somnambulism, we take care to say 
during sleep (and it is a good rule to follow^) : " Nobody 
will be able to hypnotize you in order to relieve you, 
unless it be your physician ! And the subject, obedient 



234 HYPNOTISM. 

to the command, is refractory to any foreign suggestion. 
One day, I tried to hypnotize an excellent somnambu- 
list whom I had already hypnotized several times ; I 
could not succeed. I called M. Liebault to aid me; 
he hypnotized her in a few seconds. I then asked her 
why I had not succeeded. She told me that, sev^eral 
months before, M. Beaunis had suggested during sleep 
that M. Liebault and himself were the only ones who 
could hypnotize her. This idea, written on her mind, and 
of which she was not conscious in the waking condition, 
had forwarned her against me. Thus, the danger of a 
too great susceptibility to a suggestion may be forestalled 
by suggestion itself ' ' 

" But another order of dangers may result from pro- 
voked hallucinations, and here I should speak as I think. 
Doubtless inoffensive hallucination provoked at long 
intervals, whether hypnotic or post-hypnotic, trouble the 
mind momentarily, in the same way as do dreams, but the 
equilibrium is quickly re-established as soon as the hal- 
lucinatory dream has disappeared." 

"Is it the same of these hallucinations that are 
frequently suggested to the imagination ? In the long 
run may not some trouble remain in the mind? Is it 
not to be feared that a more or less marked derange- 
ment of the intellectual faculties may survive ? I should 
not like to state that certain delicate brains, predisposed 
to mental alienation, could not receive serious harm 
from inopportune and awkward experiments of this kind, 
knowing that all emotion, all violent disturbance can 
make an insanity bud out, the diathetic germ of which, 
often hereditary, is inherent in the organism. I simply 
should say that in the many experiments which I have 



HYPNOTISM. 235 

performed, I have never known any psychical trouble 
to result. 

* * Another real danger Is this : After many hypno- 
tizatlons, after many hallucinations provoked during sleep, 
certain subjects become susceptible to suggestion and 
hallucination in the waking condition." 

"Their minds realize with extreme facility every con- 
ception insinuated ; every idea becomes an act, every 
image evoked becomes a reality ; they no longer dis- 
tinguish between the real world and the Imaginary world 
suggested. The majority, it is true, are only thus suscep- 
tible to hallucination through the one person who is 
accustomed to hypnotize them." 

"But among these subjects, especially if the physician 
has not taken the precaution to attribute a monopoly 
of the ability to give suggestion to himself, some may be 
susceptible to hallucination and suggestion at the hand 
of any one who knows how to force it upon them." 

"And if this extreme susceptibility to hallucination 
is once produced. If this nervous disease is once created, 
It Is not always easy to cure or to improve it by a new 
suggestive Interference. But it is not necessary to subject 
the human mind to influences of this sort. Doubtless, 
some experiments of hallucination induced from time to 
time are inoffensive, if they are performed with reserve ; 
repeated frequently upon the same subject they may become 
dangerous. ' ' 

Dr. Bernheim says : " Must we proscribe a thmg wnich. 
may be efficacious, because the abuse of It is injurious ? 
No one proscribes wine, alcohol, opium, quinine, because 
the immoderate or intemperate use of these substances 
may bring about accidents. Doubtless suggestion used 



236 HYPNOTISM. 

by dishonest or awkward men is a dangerous practice. 
Law can and should intervene to repress its abuse." 

"Suggestion is only beneficial when used prudently 
and i7itellige7itly'iox a therapeutic end. It is the physician's 
part to separate the useful from the harmful effect, and to 
apply it to the relief of his patients." 

Dr. Moll says : "The danger of hypnotism has been 
enormously exaggerated. The inhabitants of a little town 
once left off eating potato soup because a woman fell down- 
stairs and broke her neck half an hour after eating same. 
Conclusions have been drawn in the same way here, and 
this sort of reasoning is not uncommon. If a person was 
hypnotized, and later on had some ailment or other, 
straightway the ailment was ascribed to hypnotism. If we 
reason thus, we should have to say that Carlsbad causes 
apoplexy, for Mr. X. had an attack of apoplexy, a 
fortnight after he returned from Carlsbad, etc. Many 
things could be proved in this way." 

" I should hardly have thought it possible that such 
logic should be used in scientific circles. It is true I 
have often heard that when patients come back from a 
watering-place without having been cured — which must 
happen sometimes — they are dismissed with the comforting 
assurance that they will feel the effects later on. Till now, 
I thought this was a bad joke, or at best, an effort to con- 
sole the patient ; I never believed that such a principle 
was really credited in the medical world. If a patient 
got better or worse six months after his return from a 
watering-place, I should not be inclined to ascribe the effect 
to the baths, because in the interval other things might 
have affected the patient. Like Pauly, I must on these 
grounds reject the connection found by Binswanger, Ziems- 



HYPNOTISM, 237 

sen, between hypnosis and ailments long subsequent to It. 
Besides, If I were to accept their sophisms, It would be 
easy for me to prove In the same way that modern medicine 
made mankind ill; for what medicine might not produce 
important results half a " year after its administration ? 
What doctor has ever argued In this way? Recently 
Friedrlch, formerly an assistant of Zlemssens, has written 
at length on the dangers of hypnotism ; he has, however, 
been refuted by Forel, Schrenck-Notzing, and Bernhelm, 
who show the cases in which hypnosis Is supposed to 
have had dangerous results, are published In careful detail, 
it becomes clear— as In the cases of Seglas, Briand, Lvvoff, 
etc. — either that important precautions were neglected, or 
else that a connection between hypnosis and the disease 
were assumed according to the principle, post hoc ergo 
propter hoc''' 

' ' However, I by no means deny that there are certain 
dangers in the improper use of hypnotism. ' ' 

"Mendel maintains that it induces nervousness; that 
nervous people grow worse, and sound people nervous 
through Its use ; but Forel and Schrenck-Notzing think 
this is a mistake of Mendel's, caused by his using the 
method of Braid's instead of suggesting hypnosis verl)- 
ally. Dr. Moll, agrees that fixed attention too long 
continued may have unpleasant effects. It may be fol- 
lowed by nervous debility or nervous excitement. But 
I have never seen anyone become ' nervous ' whom I hyp- 
notized verbally^ and to whom I made no exciting 
suggestion. This is important to remember. Whoever 
has seen the difference between a subject who has received 
an exciting suggestion, and one who has received a soothing 
one, will agree that as much good can be done in one way 



238 HYPNOTISM. 

as harm in the other. A man who makes absurd sugges- 
tions to amuse himself and satisfy his curiosity, without 
a scientific aim, need hardly be astonished if he produces 
ailments. Sawolshskaja is right in warning against such 
sports. I have observed that patients are often worse 
on days following bad dreams. Can we be astonished 
that a person who has awaked from hypnosis during an 
imaginary fire should feel ill after it? Such suggestions 
should not be made at all, for most of the danger lies in 
unpleasant suggestions, and there is never any need of 
making them. Too much cannot be said against nypno- 
tism being used for such purposes. Great care should 
be taken, to only use pleasant words to the subject, 
and only make pleasing suggestions, and always be sure 
that the subject is soothed, and in a happy frame of 
mind before the waking. This is the most important 
point. Mistakes can be made of little consequence, pro- 
vided the subject is thoroughly and properly wakened in 
the manner used at Nancy, and by all who follow the 
prescriptions of that School. Dr. Moll asks of those who 
talk of the dangers of hypnotism, if they have taken 
care that the awaking should be complete ? I know that 
most people are not at all aware that they should do 
away with the suggestion entirely. They think it enough to 
blow on the subject's face, and I am astonished that more 
mischief is not done in consequence of insufficient technical 
knowledge. It is this that is dangerous, not hypnotism. 
No wonder that there are sometimes unpleasant conse- 
quences. It is as necessary to know the right way in 
this case as in using a catheter." 

"To show how a suggestion should be done away 
with, I will suppose that an exciting suggestion has been 



HYPNOTISM. 239 

made to a subject, who is disturbed in consequence. 
One should say something hke this : * What excited 
you, is just now gone, all gone ; it was only a dream, and 
you were mistaken to believe it. Now be quiet. You 
feel quiet and comfortable. It is easy to see you are 
perfectly comfortable.' Only when this has succeeded 
should the subject be awakened; and this should not 
be done suddenly ; there are reasons for thinking it better 
to prepare the patient for waking. I generally do it by 
saying, ' I shall count up to three. Wake when I say 
three;' or, 'Count to three, and then wake.'" 

These three rules should always be followed : 

First. — Avoid continuous stimulation of the senses as 
much as possible. 

Second.— Avoid all mentally exciting suggestions as 
much as possible. 

Third. — Do away with all suggestion, carefully, but 
surely before the awakening. 

This inethod caymot cause nervousness, and If the above 
rules are properly followed there can be no danger in 
hypnosis. 

Forel mentions some slight accompanying ailments, 
which are sometimes found after hypnosis, though they 
cannot be thought a real danger, and are often the result 
of auto-suggestion, or of a bad method. There may be 
fatigue and languor, heaviness of the limbs, etc., after 
waking. It is easy to prevent these by suggestion in 
deep hypnosis. It is different in the light ones, though 
I believe a clever operator can do it by post-hyp7iotic 
suggestion even here. In other cases it is better to 
prevent fatigue by suggestion before awakening ; in any 
case it is a good plan to get rid of It at the first sitting. 



240 . HYPNOTISM. 

as otherwise it increases by auto-suggestion at each 
sitting, and can finally be hardly overcome. This feeling 
of fatigue in the light hypnosis is the same we sometimes 
have after an unsound sleep. All these inconveniencies 
are slight, and can for the most part be avoided. 

The main dangers of hypnotism are not those just 
mentioned, which appear seldom, even when improper 
methods are used. The real ones show themselves more 
easily. They are, the increased tendency to hypnosis, and 
heightened susceptibility to suggestion in the waking 
state. This too great susceptibility to hypnosis shows 
us how careful we should be with the method of Braid, 
which is the most frequent cause of this ; for accident- 
ally fixing the eyes on some object may cause a sudden 
hypnosis, simply because the idea of an earlier hypnosis 
is thereby vividly recalled. 

The last-mentioned danger can be guarded against by 
repeatedly making some such suggestion as follows to the 
subject before waking him. "Nobody will ever be able 
to hypnotize you without your consent ; you will never 
fall into hypnosis against your wish ; nobody will be able 
to suggest anything to you when awake; you need never 
fear that you will have sense delusions, etc., as you do 
in hypnosis, you are perfectly able to prevent them.' 
This is the surest way to avoid the danger. Such are the 
dangers of hypnotism, and such the methods of meeting 
them. Their antidote is suggestion, and they are no 
hindrance to hypnotic treatment. They can be avoided 
by a proper use of hypnotism. 



HYPNOTISM. 241 



CHAPTER XVII. 

HYPNOTISM. 

Brief Explanations of Important Points in Hypnotism — Special 
Advice and Instructions to Young Experimenters, and Par- 
ticular Reference to Inducing Hypnotic Sleep and Awaking, 

We have in the preceding chapters of this book given 
the methods used by the most celebrated physicians, 
surgeons, and scientists in the world, to produce hypnotic 
sleep. Their names are well-known throughout all lands, 
and their ability and judgment is unquestionable. This 
book may fall into the hands of a few readers who m^ay need 
some further or plainer explanations on this great subject of 
Hypnotism. As many people desire .to learn every 
important point connected with it, and become proficient 
hypnotizers, and therefore feel themselves fully competent 
to teach the art to others, to all such we can only say, 
that if you follow the full directions given, you cannot 
fail to succeed in every particular. You must have the 
confidence of your subjects, and impress upon their mind, 
that you will produce sleep and benefit them thereby. You 
must feel yourself fully competent to the task, and know 
that you can hypnotize others. 

In case you are not successful in your first attempts 
to hypnotize, you must not allow yourself to feel dis- 



242 HYPNOTISM, 

couraged. This book has made you the master of the 
most wonderful science or art of this century. You are 
Hable to hypnotize the first person you use as a sub- 
ject, but you may try several before you will succeed. 
You possess the knowledge, and there is no reason 
whatever why you should not become as good an operator 
as any other person. It is unnecessary to again repeat 
here the different methods to produce the hypnotic 
state. It is given quite fully ten different times in the 
preceding chapters. But we desire to impress the reader 
to study every page, and perfect themselves in every 
step that they will necessarily take in becoming a thor- 
ough hypnotist. It may seem at first almost incredible 
to a beginner, that he can learn to hypnotize so quickly 
and perfectly as thousands have already done. But he 
must abandon all such ideas, and he will very soon witness 
the most marvelous feats, produced by the simple methods 
he is using on his subjects. 

You will find that those you hypnotize will obey 
your commands as perfectly as a soldier hastens to obey 
the orders of his superior officer. What at first will 
astonish the operator most will be to see his subject 
sleep, because you commanded him to sleep,^ then to see 
him carry out your suggestions and think as you direct 
him to think. You must in a very mild way impress 
upon your subjects that you want them to sleep, and 
in a very short time you will waken them refreshed and 
contented. You must feel positive and in fact know :hat 
you can hypnotize a large percentage of the subjects 
that desire you to, and if they fully believe that you 
can produce the hypnotic sleep in their cases, it will 
go very far towards your success. After you have 



HYPNOTISM. 243 

hypnotized one or two, you will have galnea so much 
confidence in your ability to control others, that it will 
be no task to you any longer, and you can go before 
anyone and feel as bold as if you were just graduated 
from college. You can study this book and perfect 
yourself, and give parlor entertainments, cure such dis- 
eases as rheumatism, opium habit, tobacco habit, cigarette 
habit, nervous prostration, stammering, violent headaches, 
alcoholism, etc." 

You will observe all through this book that subjects 
who have been hypnotized before, are much easier to 
control than others, and if you know of any such person, 
try to get them as your subjects at first. Tell them 
that you are well read up in the science, and have the 
best authorities in the world to guide you in every 
move in hypnotism. Even show the book if necessary. 
Young people are generally quickly influenced, and if 
the operator follows the instructions here given in every 
chapter, he will very soon observe that his efforts are 
meeting with wonderful success. In several chapters in 
this book, you will be instructed in the methods and 
the directions given that you are to follow to become 
an expert in this art. You must never allow any person 
present to make foolish or discouraging remarks to the 
subject before or while you are hypnotizing him. He must 
not speak until he is told to do so by you. He must 
concentrate his thoughts on an effort to sleep, as thereby 
he is assisting the operator in this wonderful phenomena. 
Give the subject time to become drowsy and sleep will come 
eighty to ninety times out of every hundred. Speak very 
softly to him when you observe the changes in his facial 
expression. Speak as if he was a child you loved, and 



2 14 HYPNOTISM. 

let the tone of your voice be low and sweet, not whining, 
but expressive, and when you finally command him to sleep, 
do not speak as if you owned him body and soul, but 
speak as if you were positive he was asleep, and right 
here I beg to call attention to the waking method as used 
in the School of Nancy, which you must study and become 
proficient in. It is very important, and you will so 
observe when you have become a thorough hypnotizer. 
And in this connection, it is well to read carefully Chap- 
ter XVI., as the waking methods are explained very 
minutely. 

After your subject has passed into the hypnotic sleep, 
do not speak to him for a few minutes, and he will become 
quiet as if he were in natural sleep, then you can say to 
him pleasantly, " You are sleeping soundly, you will sleep a 
short time, but you will not wake until I order you to. Be 
calm and enjoy this little nap." You can suggest some 
pleasant view in the distance, such as ''What a beautiful 
sunset you see over there," pointing to it with your right 
hand. '*You have a grand summer house just beyond 
the turn in the road. You see the sheep on the side of 
the hill, and the children in the boat sailing on the lake. 
Listen — You can hear their voices singing, * Home, sweet 
home.' Oh, how happy you are now when you hear the 
voices of those you love. When you wake you will 
remember what a beautiful sight you are witnessing. 
Now, I do not intend to wake you suddenly, so when 
I count ten, you will wake at that time, and you will 
open your eyes, and will feel well, refreshed and happy." 
When you have counted ten, say "Wake." 

We call attention to illustration (Fig. i). Notice the 
earnestness of both hypnotizer and subject. The operator's 



HYPNOTISM, 245 

expression is calm, thoughtful, and he knows his subject 
will sleep. The subject is there to be hypnotized, and 
that is the belief of the operator, or the subject never would 
have called there. He has confidence in the operator, and 
believes he will benefit him. You must get your subjects 
into just that state of mind that is so beautifully illus- 
trated in that picture. 

It is the method used in the hospitals of France and 
Germany, and the position of the operator and subject 
is very beautifully and correctly shown. It is known as 
Dr. Liebault's method, and is extremely simple, and easy 
to learn bv the experimenter. (See Chap. IV., of this 
book). 

(Fig. 2). — Is Youyig' s Method. The right hand of the 
operator is held about 12 to 15 inches from the subject's 
eyes, the hand being closed with the exception of the 
first two fingers which are extended (as in illustration) 
at such an angle that the gaze shall be directed upwards 
in a strained manner. The left hand of the operator is 
raised as high as his head, and nearly two feet away 
from his right hand. It is a new method, and we think 
somewhat more expressive than others. But we do not 
claim that it produces hypnotic sleep any quicker than 
the one so generally used throughout all Europe. But 
we believe it is another step towards the advancement of 
this wonderful science. 

(Fig. 3). — The FasciJiafion Method. The subject and 
operator should be seated in ordinary chairs such as ap- 
pear in the illustration. Place your thumbs against his ; 
let the subject gaze steadily in the operator's eyes, and 
tell him to concentrate his thoughts entirely on sleep, 
and think of that only. Arrange the chairs so that the 



246 HYPNOTISM. 

subject will feel at ease, his back against the chair. The 
operator can lean forward, but do not suggest to the 
subject to change his position. Tell him not to speak 
to you unless you request him to talk. In a short time 
ten or fifteen minutes, sometimes less, you will notice 
slight twitching of the muscles of the face, and the eyes 
appear dull, perhaps watery, and when these symptoms 
appear, you can draw both of the subject's hands together 
at the same time holding both his thumbs with your right 
hand, and place your left hand on his forehead. He may 
then close his eyes. If he does not voluntarily, let your 
left hand move slowly down and close his eyelids, stroking 
them slightly with your fingers, and then return your left 
hand again to the subject's hand as first held, his eyes now 
being closed ; then say to him, "You are resting pleasantly, 
and you appear sleepy. You are sleepy — very sleepy. 
Sleep." 

If your subject sleeps, he will imitate everything you 
do. You can swallow as if drinking, and the subject 
will swallow. You can raise your arm ; he will do the 
same. If you stand several feet apart, back to back, and 
a person pricks your leg with a needle, the subject will 
jump, although he does not see you. We refer the 
reader to Chap. VIII., in which the method is treated 
at length. 

(Fig. 4).— Think — think deeply for an Instant without 
falling asleep. Arousing latent memories, after being 
awakened from somnambulistic sleep. A most wonderful 
phenomena, thoroughly explained in Chap. X. 

(Fig. 5). — The operator hypnotizing three persons at 
one time. 

(Fig. 6). — Three persons passing into hypnotic sleep. 



HYPNOTISM. 247 

(Fig. 7). — Method used in therapeutics, and the method 
used in curing cigarette smoking, opium, tobacco habit, 
alcohohsm, and other dangerous habits. See Chap. 10. 

It is highly important that we call attention to Chap. 
III. The Nine Degrees of Hypnotism^ also the use and 
discovery of suggestion. 

You will notice that the time necessary to hypnotize 
will generally vary from one minute to five minutes, and 
then again you will meet some who are thinking of some- 
thing else, which often prevents them being influenced. 
But those may be hypnotized at some other sitting. When 
people are hypnotized they do not hear the voices of those 
present. Neither do they even see or know their own 
relatives in whose company they are. The operator can 
introduce the subject to any person in the room. If the 
party is his own wife, mother or sister, the operator can 
suggest that the ladies to be introduced are very important 
personages, mentioning the names of Queen Victoria or the 
President's wife, and the subject will treat them with great 
dignity and attention, and in the next suggestion, you can 
say to him that he must not encroach on the ladies' time, 
and bid them good evening, and the people present often 
witness then a wonderful sight, for the most rough, uncouth 
persons when in the somnambuHstic state of hypnotism, are 
changed into the most polite and gentlemanly men, and 
the expression of the face is transformed as it were into 
the highest degree of refinement. By suggestion, you 
can direct the subject's mind in almost any direction 
desired. You can send him off far away to Manila, 
and he will describe quite accurately the country he is 
visiting. You can say to him, why look off to the right 
of you, there is a tremendous battle being fought, and 



248 HYPNOTISM. 

here to the left of you is a wedding party, and see 
what a crowd of elegant ladies and gentlemen are there. 
If you watch the subject closely, you will notice that 
he hears the roar and din of battle, and if you ask him 
how that wedding is progressing his face will change 
entirely when he answers you, but you must not make 
the second suggestion until the subject has fully described 
the first. When you have studied this book, and have 
become a thorough hypnotizer, you will be able to originate 
very many new and startling manifestations that other 
operators have not thought of; and if you wish to give 
parlor exhibitions, or to entertain a family gathering or 
an evening party, the more novel ideas you have to 
show them among those you hypnotize, the oftener you 
will be sought after, and in some places such a private 
entertainment commands from $50 to $100. There are 
many suggestions that the reader may originate, many 
of which might be very important, not to the subject 
alone, but to his friends or relatives. Many people that 
procure this book, become teachers of the. science, and 
thereby have a very considerable income from such an 
occupation. 

The cataleptic or rigid state is, when the body becomes 
stiff as a log. It is very simple, and very wonderful, 
and to some people very amusing, but really we fail 
to find any particular benefit arising from it. It can be 
produced by suggestion in the same manner as you tell 
the subject that he is King of England. See Chap. XIV. 
Your limbs and your whole body are becoming hard and 
rigid ! are the words that can be used. 

Hallucination, sense delusion, is thoroughly explained 
in Chapter IX. 



HYPNOTISM, 249 

Also telepathic suggestion. Auto-suggestion plays 
a most important part in hypnotism, and we hope every 
student will give this part of the book earnest study 
and attention. 

Post-hypnotic suggestion is also taught in this book 
(Chap. IX). It means that a patient will carry out any 
instructions given him when in a hypnotic sleep (by the 
doctor or operator) after he awakens. He will do the act 
apparently unconscious of having received any suggestion 
from the operator. (See cases cited.) 

Somnambulism. (See Chapter X.) Professor Bern- 
helm calls somnambulism the Seventh Degree of Hyp- 
notism. It is certainly the most wonderful part of this 
yet misunderstood science. In this degree of hypnotism 
the operator feels as If he was standing face to face with 
the Soul of Man. 

Note — The preceding Illustrations (occupying 14 pages), none of which were 
numbered, therefore the following Pages will commence with the correct Folio 264. 



264 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 

The origin of Animal Magnetism is coeval with the 
creation of Eve. The extremely subtil and invisible fluid, 
which when in contact with the animal brain, is capable 
of performing all the phenomena of this wonderful science, 
had existed millions on millions of years anterior to the 

creation of man, and is pro- 
bably coeval with the birth 
of the trilobite, or even with 
creation itself. The sun's 
rays must pass through a 
suitable medium to cause the 
phenomenon of light — so this 
invisible fluid continued un- 
known, though not inactive, 
until some of its inherent 
properties were developed in 
passing through a suitable 
medium, which was found to 
be the complicate and delicate 
brain of the highest order in 
the organized forms of crea- 
tion. 

The smallest insect, the 
. most simple form of vegeta- 
tion, and the more noble formation of matter in man, 
were all mediums through which this fluid ever has. and 
still continues to flow, producing all the symmetry, beau- 
ty and phenomena of nature, which, to superficial minds, 
are scarcely noticeable, because they are of such frequent 
and incessant occurrence, and are classed with the pheno- 
mena of the earth, only the first time the brain receives 
their impression by the force of that mysterious fluid 
through the medium of the senses. A child is in mute 
ecstacy at the first sound of the spring-rattle. He sees it; 
the m'ysterious fluid pervading all space, instantly im- 
presses on his brain, through the delicate lens of the eye, 
the form of the instrument from which such strange 
notes had proceeded. He leaps with joy when he per- 
ceives it is made of wood, and analogous to other forms 
of things, long since familiar to his senses, by repeated 
examination of the impression of similar objects retained 
in the vast store-room of the brain. He seizes with delight 




MYSTEBIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 265 

the play-thing, and wonders that an instrument so simple 
in its construction, could have caused him to wonder, 
when the strange music caused by its vibrations were 
first transmitted to his ear. He continues the manipula- 
tions and finds amusement in the harmony of sounds, un- 
til the sympathy of the nervous system, that accurate 
tuning key of nature's wind-harp, softens the harsh tones 
of the rattle: when the whole forms a perfect chord of the 
brain, v/hich continues to amuse the senses, until mono- 
tony fatigues the imagination, and a new and more curi- 
ous phenomenon is sought for, probably in the decom- 
position, by fire of the very toy which once sent forth 
such strange sounds to the ear. He scarcely ceases to 
wonder at the flame issuing from his lighted torch, when 
he is called to the window to scan a still more marvel- 
lous phenomenon in the air, "a kite ! a kite !" a paper 
kite, buoyed aloft with a simple thread, is now the ob- 
ject of mute astonishment, followed by loud demonstra- 
tions of joy, as the mysterious fluid conveys through 
the eager distended eye to the brain, a perfect impression 
of the object which first held him mute in astonishment. 

The most learned among men are but cliildren in 
embryo, when their researches in science are compared 
with the vast and unlimited field which remain unex- 
plored. Innumerable are the forms imprinted on the 
brain in the life time of man. Each form was a pheno- 
menon; each in tm-n became familar; the whole becomes 
monotonous, and the imagination, aided by the inven- 
tive genius of the brain, seeks among the countless 
millions of forms in creation for some new phenomena to 
feed the insatiate vortex of familar monotony. 

In the eager desire to leach after phenomena, the 
reasoning faculties are dormant, and man is capable only 
of admiring the wonderful affect on his brain without 
knowing the cause which produced it; when with less 
eagerness and more reason, man could refer to his brain 
which ever retains the impression received from innu- 
merable objects, among which may be discovered forms 
sufficiently analogus to reconcile the most wonderful phe- 
nomenon to the known and familiar laws of nature, con- 
tinually in operation around us; so the effects of Animal 
Magnetism continued to be seen, felt and admired in its 
various modifications, long before it received a name 
among the sciences of the earth. In a subsequent chap- 
ter, I will give the theory which harmonizes and reconciles 
all the phenomena attending this science, and show the 
natural causes continually operating to produce it. I 
will, likewise, divest it of every supernatui*al attribute 



266 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 

which its votaries and opposers are so zealous in ascrib- 
ing to it. Enough for the present chapter will shoAV its 
<jrigin, its rise, and developments, under the various 
*vrongly applied names of charms, sorcery, beguile- 
/aents, fortune-telling bj^ the Gipsies, and witchcraft of 
the ancients and moderns. 

The same fluid, which now unperceived by the keen- 
est eye, is flowing through all organized matter, sup- 
porting life, when in a just equilibrim, and producing 
the effects called Animal MA&ifETiSM, when forced from 
its natural channel, was in existence from the creation, 
and commenced its unnatural effects on our race in the 
garden of Eden. The beguilement by the serpent was 
merely the effect of this mysterious fluid operating on 
the brain and nervous system of Eve. The same fluid 
held Adam in magnetic sleep when he committed the 
unholy deed, for which, we, his posterity, are doomed 
to suffer as penance. The snake at all times has used 
the same fluid in subduing the feathered tribe. The 
charm attributed to this animal, is the self same magne- 
tism which is now the subject of wonder in its effects 
on the brain of civihzed man. The sorcerers of India 
knew the power of this fluid, and used it for the vilest 
purposes of deception. Witchcraft in all countries, was 
a branch of Animal Magnetism; it was the effect to the 
magnetic fluid, called a "volition of the will, emanating 
from the witch by the animal force of the nerves ; the 
"bewitched" was the needle obeying the will of the 
magnet, and exhibiting all the phenomena common to 
the present science of Animal Magnetism. The pointing 
downwards of a crotched stick to indicate a stream of 
water flowing ttoough the earth; the rat-catcher's charm 
and the soothing power possessed by many of curing 
scalded and burned flesh, are volitions of the will, and 
modified branches of this heretofore intricate science. 

The Gipsies, as a commmunity, probably knew more of 
the astonishing power to be derived from the magnetic 
fluid than any collective race of beings on the globe. Their 
accurate predictions of future events are now subjects of 
history, and thousands of the most respectable inhabi- 
tants of Europe have testified to the perfect fulfilment of 
events predicted by this people. Their origin and habits 
of life are as curious as their magnetic phenomena. It is 
supposed that they came from Hindoostan, from the fact 
that their language resembles in all its parts Hindoosta- 
nee, notwithstanding they have been dispersed and 
wand<^ring nearly four centuries in various parts of the 
earth. Like the witches in our own country, the Gipsies 



MYSTERIES OP MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE 267 

have been persecuted in civilized Europe. In 1530, we 
find penal statutes against them in England; a subsequent 
act, made it death for them to continue in the kingdom; 
and it is recorded, to the disgrace of England, that thir- 
teen Avere executed for this oH'ence alone, but a few years 
prior to the restoration; this cruel act was not repealed 
until 1783 ; when the science of Animal Magnetism was 
sufficiently improved to show the injustice and inhumanity 
of legislating against the laws which Nature designed to 
be established for some benevolent purpose to mankind. 
The Gipsies were expeUed from France in the middle of 
the sixteenth century, and Spain in 1591. Though expel- 
led by statutes, they have not been entirely extirpated in 
any country ; they are still numerous in Asia, and the 
northern parts of Europe, and their collective numbers 
are estimated at nearly a million of souls. Though scat- 
tered over the globe, they retain then* similar and origi- 
nal character and habits; their principal business is for- 
tune-telhng, in which they succeed to an extraordinary 
degree, by the aid of the magnetic fluid, which they are 
so long accustomed to use, that they far surpass the best 
magnetic somnambulists of this country. 

Grellman, who wrote the liistory of the Gipsies, and in- 
deed all persons who have been nmch acquainted with 
the habits and manners of this interesting race, regard 
them as a very singular phenomena; they are not changed 
. by chmate, and the sword has not been able to extirpate 
them. In all countries they are the same wandering tribe, 
hving in small huts, and though subject to the laws of the 
country in which they reside, they nevertheless have 
their own government as a connnunity, the head of which 
is termed ''Queen of the Gypsies." Many of them attain 
a very advanced age. Margaret Finch, who died at 
Becke'nham, in Kent, Oct. 24th, 1740, lived to the extraor- 
dinary age of one hundred and nine years; Margaret held 
the title of queen; after traveling nearly a century, she 
settled at Norwood,, where her extraordinary powers in 
Animal Magnetism, (denominated "fortune-telling" by 
the superficial philosophers and unlettered people,) at- 
tracted, as it does in all countries, numerous visitors of 
the most respectable families in the country. 

"' Prom a habit of sitting on the ground, with her chin 
resting on her knees, the sinews at length became so con- 
tracted that she could not assume any other position. 
After h er death, they were obliged to enclose her in % 
deep square box. Her funeral was attended by two 
mourning coaches; a sermon was preached on the occa- 
sion, and a great concourse of people attended the cere- 



268 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 

iriony. Her portrait irow adorns the sign-post of a hotel 
in Norwood, called the Oipsey House. In an adjoining 
cottage, resides to this day, the grand-daughter of queen 
Margaret; she inherits the title of queen, and has reached 
a very advanced age." She is the niece of queen Bridget, 
who 'was buried at Dulwich, in 1768. She inherits a 
knowledge of the magnetic fluid, and continues to prac- 
tice with great success. She is unlettered, like all the 
race of this extraordinary people, and therefore her 
powers are sufficiently systeniatised to rank in the 
sciences, and though denominated " fortune-telhng" by 
some, and " supernatural revelations" by others it is, 
nevertheless, a branch and most constituent part of the 
science of Animal Magnetism. 

A very extraordinary feature in the magnetic power of 
the Gipsies seems to have escaped altogether the notice 
of scientific 'men, and Anmial Magnetizers in particular. 
I allude to the great difference in the manipulations or 
process to produce magnetic somnambulism; it is well 
known by all who have witnessed experiments in Animal 
Magnetism, that the somnambuhc sleep is produced by 
the volition of the will, " as it is termed, from the mag- 
netizer, and there requires two persons to produce a mag- 
netic sonmambuUst. When it is equally well known by 
all who have had the pleasure of witnessing the Gipsy ex- 
periments, that each one within themselves, is both the 
magnetizer and the magnetized, without any fluid what- 
ever emanating from a second person; the volition of each 
will, instantly forms its own brain into a somnambulist, 
who can, not only travel instantly to any part of the 
globe, and with an extraordinary power of " clairvoy- 
ance,'' tell the situation of things and passing events, but 
likewise look into futurity for hundi-eds and even thous- 
ands of years, and predict with nmcli accuracy the time 
place and circumstances to be connected with extraordin- 
ary events. The pages of history are proloflc in the ful- 
filment of such predictions. I will select one from the 
thousands on record, to confound the most skeptical 
opposer of the science, and carry conviction to the most 
stubborn unbelievers, of a fluid which has existed in all 
times and in all ages, and is constantly offering to our 
senses the proof of its power, when directed by a skillful 
magnetic sonmambulist. The case I would otter, is that 
of the Empress Josephine, the consort of Napoleon. Her 
character stands above the reach of suspicion, as regards 
a,n extenuation of the extraordinary prophecy; and its 
equally extraordinary fulfilment is too weU known by all 
persons, to require any extracts on my part from history, 



MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 2Gd 

to prove it. I will relate the circumstance in Josephine's 
own words; and, reader, if you are an unbeiiev^er in 
Animal Magnetism, observe well your own emotions, 
while perusing the prophecy, you will feel the very hairs 
raise from your head, caus'edby the transmission of the 
same magnetic fluid, which enabled the sable African 
when in St. Domingo, to predict for years in advance, the 
events connected with the history of France, equally as 
Important and extraordinary as the fall of the ancient 
Jerusalem. Read it; it is from her, who under the most 
trying situations and circumstances, proved the most 
noble as she was the most amiable of her sex. 

"One day, some time before my first marriage, while 
taking my usual walk, I observed a number of negro girls 
assembled around an old Avoman, engaged in telling their 
fortunes. I drew near to observe their proceedings. The 
old sibyl, on beholding me, uttered a loud exclamation 
and almost by force seized my hand. She appeared to 
be under the greatest agitation. Amused at these absur- 
dities, as I thought them, I allowed her to proceed say- 
ing, 'So you discover something extraordinary in my des- 
tiny ?' — 'Yes.' — 'Is happiness or misfortune to be my lot ?' 
— 'Misfortune. Ah stop ! — and happiness too!' — 'You 
take care not to commit yourself, my good dame; your 
oracles are not the most intelligible.' — 'I am not permitted 
to render more clear, ' said the woman raising her eyes 
with a mysterious expression towards heaven. — 'But to 
the point,' replied I, for my curiosity began to get excited; 
what read you concerning me in futurity?' — 'What do I 
see in the future? You will not believe me if I speak'. — ' 
Yes indeed I assure, you. Come, my good mother, what 
am I to fear and hope?' — ' On your own head be ill then: 
hsten: You will be married soon; that union will not be 
happy; you will become a widow, and then— then you 
will be Queen of France! Some happy years will be yours; 
but you will die in an hospital, amid civil commotion. 

" On concluding these words, continued Josephine," 
the old woman burst from the crowd, and hurried av/ay, 
as fast as her limbs, enfeebled by age, would permit, i 
forbade the bystanders to molest or banter the pretended 
prophetess on this ridiculous p'-ediction; and took occasion 
from the seeming absurdity of the whole proceeding, to 
caution the young negresses how they gave heed to such 
silly matters. Henceforth, I thought of the affair only 
to laugh at it with my relatives. But afterward, when 
my husband had perished on the scaffold, in spite of my 
better judgment, this prediction forcibly recurred to my 



270 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 

mind after a lapse of years; and though I was myself then 
in prison, the transaction daily assumed a less improbable 
character, and I ended by regarding the fulfilment as 
almost a matter of course. 

The event of this extraordinary prophcey is well Itnown; 
Her second marriage was to General Napoleon Bonaparte 
9th March, 1796. On the 18th May 1804, was fulfilled the 
prophecy of " Queen of France," and the circumstances 
attending her death are equaHy well known. All France 
had been a ''slaughterhouse," and all France was an 
"hospital " at the time of her death. 

This black woman, like Gipsies, was capable within 
herself of controling the magnetic fluid; she was both the 
magnetizer and somnambulist; she required no assistance 
from a second person to put her asleep. She was able by 
her own will to draw the magnetic fluid from remote 
space and even from futurity, through her own nervous 
system and brain, which thereby received an impression 
of all things past, present and future, which could readily 
by the asisstance of speech, be made known to the in- 
quirer, who for want of a true philosophical reasoning 
would be unable to see the analogus workings of the 
magnetic fluid in objects around him, and lost in amaze- 
ment, would p»ronounce the oracle a supernatural pheno- 
menon, and the magnetic somnambulist or fotune-teUer 
in concert with some unlvnown and mysterious power. 

This superiority in the Gipsy and African sorcerers over 
the more scientific magnetizers, induced me to pursue 
with more zeal my inquiries in Animal Magnetism. I ad- 
mire simplicity, and have generally observed that Nature^s 
most perfect works are always most simple. I planed 
my experiments, with a view to ascertain if the somnam- 
bulist could not magnetize herself, and my efforts were 
crowned with the most perfect success. The process is 
extremly simple and every one who will read these sub- 
sequent chapters, no matter what may be the state of his 
or ner nervous system, or age can be a Somnambulist and 
Magnetizer, within themselves without the aid of a sec- 
ond pei'son, and perform all the phenomena common to 
Animal Magnetism. 

In describing a few of the various forms un^er which the 
magnetic phenomena have appeared, since the serpent's 
conquest in Eden, until it assumed a name among the sci- 
ences, I would notice the phenomenon called Trance, 
frequently developed at protracted meetings, for religious 



MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 271 

rites in churches, and more frequently in the forest, un- 
der the name of camp meetings. Tlie trances are too 
well known to need much description from me in this 
place. I will notice them more fully, Avhen I explain the 
causes which produce it. 

It is the effect of the same mysterious fluid; the person 
affected by it suddenly falls in a magnetic sleep; they are 
then magnetic somnambulists, and perform all the phe- 
nomena peculiar to Animal Magnetism; their spirit freq- 
uently leaves the body, and after traversing the confines 
of earth, returns to its case of organized clay, and there, 
through the organs of speech, relate to the wondering 
crowd all the incidents actually occuring at that mom- 
ent, perhaps thousands of miles distant, in some tavern 
or convent, secm-ed by walls and doors of cemented stone 
and iron, impenetrable to sight or animal strength of 
mortals in possession of the ordinary functions of life. 

Even more, they have been known in the short space 
of an hour, to travel in spirit to the regions of punish- 
ment and reward for the dead, and on awaking, have re- 
lated the cheering and heart-rending scenes to thousands 
of the most respectable witnesses, many of whom are 
preachers and can testify to the frequent occurrence of 
such facts. The phenonomen known as " clairvoyance," 
is in the trance quite as remarkable as that exhibited in 
the usual magnetic sleep, and even far exceeds that of 
reading a letter through various envelopes of paper, or of 
telling the time by a clock, in a remote or adjoining 
building or room. 

Another class of phenomena which belongs to this 
science, is the " clahvoyance" exhibited by natural son- 
ambulists. A very extraordinary case occurred in Spring- 
field, Massachusetts, in June, 1833, and continued for 
nearly one year. My readers are undoubtedly aware, 
that I refer to the case of Miss Jane C. Rider. A very 
scientific description of her case has been published by 
professor L. W. Belden, M. D., her attendant physci an. 
I will hereafter show the cause of this phenomenon, and 
for the present will merely cite the words of Dr. Belden, 
to prove the " clairvoya^nce" of Miss Rider. 

' ' On Nov. 10th, it was proposed to ascertain whether 
she could read with her eyes closed. She was seated 
in a corner of the room, the lights were placed at a 
distance from her, and so screened as to leave her in 
almost enthe darkness. In this situation, she read with 
ease a great number of cards, which were presented to 
her, some of which were written with a pencil, and so 



273 MYSTERIES OF MAaNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 

obscurely, that in a faint light nei trace could be dis- 
covered by common eyes. She told the date of coins, 
even when the figures were obliterated. A visitor handed 
her a letter, with the request that she would read the 
motto on the seal, which she readily did, although several 
persons present had been unable to decipher it with the 
aid of a lamp. The whole of this time, the eyes were to 
all appearance perfectly closed. 

" She fell asle< p while I w^as prescribing for her, and 
her case having now excited considerable interest, she 
was visited during that and the following day by proba- 
bly more than a hundred people. To this circumstance 
undoubtedly, is to be attributed the length of the parox- 
ysm, for she did not wake till Friday morning, forty-eight 
hours after the attack. 

'' During this time, she read a variety of cards, written 
and presented to her by different individuals; told the 
time by watches, and wrote short sentences. 

"For greater security, a second handkerchief was 
sometimes placed below the one which she constantly 
wore over her eyes, but apparently without causing any 
obstruction to the vision. She also repeated with great 
propriety and distinctness, several pieces of poetry, some 
of which she had learned in childhood but had forgotten, 
and others which she had merely read several years 
since, without having committed them to memory. A 
colored girl came in and seated herself before her; she 
was asked if she knew that lady; she smiled and returned 
no answer. Some one said: has she not ? Jane laughed 
heartily, and said, ' I should think she was somewhat 
tanned.'" 

The high respectability of Miss Rider, and the probity 
and undoubted science of Dr. Belden, precludes the possi- 
bilit}^ of doubt in the case referred to. The only erroi\ 
which is conmion to all the preceding cases, was, attribut- 
ing the phenomena to some special supernatural cause, 
instead of classing them where they certainly belong, as 
a branch of the science of Animal Magnetism; which can 
be clearly demonstrated by the well known and anolog- 
ous laws which govern the universe. It is left for me to 
perform that task, which I hope to accomplish so clearly, 
that a child may control the science, and all persons be 
abl at a glance to range all the phenomena produced by 
tht magnetic fluid under its proper title. 

I have thus noticed a few of the various phenomena 
produced by this mysterious fluid, from the creation of 
man until the middle of the eighteenth century, when an 
apparent new phenomenon was produced by certain 



MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 373 

manipulations and volitions of Avill, producing sleep on 
persons affected with nervous irritability, and performing 
numerous cures in those submitted to the action of the 
fluid, supposed to be transmitted by the operator's mani- 
pulations and volition of will. This new phenomenon 
received the name of Animal Magnetism, from the unusual 
physiological effects being produced by the will of an- 
other animal (man,) employing a fluid, supposed analo- 
gous to that which gives the magnetic property to iron. 

This new science, afforded a broad field for philosophi- 
cal hypothesis, conjecture and research; the principal 
agent (fluid) was invisible, yet producing by its agency, 
the most wonderful, and to many, supernatural effects 
physiological constitution of man. The superstitious re- 
quired but a sight, or even the description of a single 
case, to bring them in the pale of its followers. Scientific 
and philosophical reasoners gradually became its support- 
ers, and drew with them a large proportion of the less 
scientific, though more sensible and intelligent, to worship 
at the shrine of this partially occult science, the pheno- 
menon of which, w^ould be the foundation Oj. a new theory^ 
(to be raised on the ashes of the Mosaic, Copernician and 
Newtonian,) whose cano^Dy would over-arch COSMOGONY, 
and" whose structure would elicit the spontaneous pro- 
duction of life. 

In the first discovery of this new science, somnambu- 
lism was rare, and " clairvoyance" unknown. It remain- 
ed for other more ingenious philosophers to discover, by 
repeated experiments, the most extraordinary faculty of 
traveling in spirit, to see and communicate the situation 
of things thousands of miles distant from the body of the 
sonmambulist. Enough, however, was known to inspire 
the most enthusiastic and wild expectations. Its princi- 
pal uses was curing of diseases, and exhibitions of its 
wonders, to gratify the curious, with lectures to instruct 
the uninitiated in the manipulations necessary to produce 
the phenomenon. Some of its advocates claimed for it 
powers of a very superior order, and asserted it was a 
divine inspiration given to man for benevolent purposes, 
and to be wrested from his grasp the moment his object 
should be perverted to base and unholy designs on his 
race. 

Among the most fervent advocates of the science at 
that time, was Antony Mesmer, born at Wieler, in Ger- 
many. He tought publicly the doctrine; wrote several 
treatises on the science, and performed many wonderful 
cures by the aid of the magnetic fluid, during an ex- 
tensive travel which he performed through Germany, 



274 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 

Swabia, Switzerland, and Bavaria. Wonder followed his 
footsteps and fame heralded his approach in advance. 
He arrived at the French metropolis in 17/8, where he 
performed many wonderful cures, which drew to the 
standard of Animal Magnetism thousands of all classes in 
the community, who embraced the doctrine in its fullest 
extent, and hailed the discovery of the magnetic fluid 
as a panacea to remove all manner of diseases, and to 
renew and invigorate age. Enthusiasts in the cause were 
not wanting, v/tio claimed an immediate divine revelation 
for the power, and indeed the very manipulations to pro- 
duce such extraordinary results, induced the most sober 
philosophers among its votaries, to believe the whole 
science of Animal Magnetism a supernatural pheno- 
menon. 

Such high pretensions in a civilized country, might well 
be supposed to create opposition from those fearful of 
entire pervision of the established laws and order of 
societ}^ Its advocates became enthusiasts; its opponents 
gj-ew loud in tlieir demands on the civil authority to 
suppress it. The King's government instituted an in- 
quiry into its pretensions and merits. The commission 
was composed of men of exalted character and science, 
chosen from the Society of Medicine, and the French 
Academy of Science. Dr. Franklin, then a Plenipoten- 
tiary from the United States to the French Court, was 
one of the commission. M. D'Eslon, who wrote a treatise 
entitled, '" Ohser oat ions sur le Mag netlsme,'''' was a member of 
the Royal Academy of Medicine, and a firm disciple of 
Mesuier, who pronounced him a powerful magnetizer. 

From this gentleman the connnission obtained the most 
of their experiments; perhaps because of evasion on the 
part of Mesmer to furnish suitable opportunities for in- 
vestigations. Be that as it may, the commission re- 
ported against Animal Magnetism in 1784, and the weight 
of their characters and decision had sufficient influence 
to suppress, only for a time, the progress of this science 
in France. 

Dui'ing Mesmer's experiments in Paris, other portions 
of Europe felt the influence of this mysterious fluid. The 
science was born and cradled in Germany, where the 
giant continued to disseminate light, and gain converts 
to tiie faith. England furnished her share of its cham- 
pions, and among them was Mainaudus, whose success in 
healing the sick and gaining converts to Animal Magne- 
tism, almost equalled that of Mesmer in France. In some 
respects, Mainaudus was superior; his lectures contained 
more philosophical reasoning, and were therefore more 



MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 275 

powerful in plaining converts from the scientific and 
philosophical opposers of the science. 

" I shall not," said Deleuze, (as reported in his life by 
Foissac,) "permit myself to form any theory, but will 
only state what has been witnessed by myself, and others 
worthy of credit." After giving a sketch of the history 
of its discovery, and various oppositions to it, he devotes 
a long chapter to the examuiation of proofs on which the 
science is founded. 

He first lays down undisputed, correct principals of the 
probaUlity of testimony, and applies them, with sound logic 
to the examination of the proofs of Animal Magnetism. 
He shows that its effects have been attested by thousands 
of respectable witnesses, among whom are physicians, 
savans and enlightened men who have not been afraid to 
meet ridicule while obeying the dictates of conscience 
and fulfilling a duty to humanity; that the many who 
have published their opinions, and the yet greater num- 
ber who make their observations in silence, and content 
themslves with acknowledging their belief when question- 
ed on the snbject, have all either seen for themselves or 
actually produced the phenomenon of which they speak; 
while among the opposers of the science, not one can be 
found Avho has examined the subject in the only proper 
way, by experimenting for himself with scrupulous at- 
tention in exact accordance with the prescribed directions. 

The science, under, Deleuze, gained converts from 
among the most learned men in the Empu-e. Mr. Foissac 
a distinguished member of the medical faculty of Paris 
readily embraced the doctrine, and from being a skillful 
magnetizer himself, wrote a memoir to the Academy of 
Medecine, in 1825, inviting that learned society to make a 
new examination of Animal Magnetism. His proposition 
was after much discussion adopted, and a conmiission 
composed of its members, Bourdois de la Motte, Fouquier, 
Gueneau de Mussy, Guersent, Itard, Leroux, Magendie, 
Marc, Thillaye, Husson, and Double, were appointed to 
conduct the experiments and report to the Academy. 

The commission spent five years with the most scrutin- 
izing experiments, and finally, in 1831, reported unfavor- 
able to the science, but acknowledged in the report have- 
ing seen many extraordinary and " unaccountable" facts, 
which was sufficient to show their prejudice and total 
incapability of judging in a science in which the funda- 
mental, principals were above their comprehension. 
The respectabiUty of the society which appointed the com- 
mission had some inflnence in retarding the rapid ad- 
vances which the science was making; but truth cannot be 



276 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 

hid, and many intelligent ip°'- sijon saw the injustice oc- 
casioned by the report, and oiiiisted themselves in favor of 
Animal Magnetism which is again on a triumphant march 
through all the civilized sections of the globe. 

The limits of this work will not admit the details con- 
nected with the rise and progress of this science in 
Europe, or of giving the many thousand well attested 
facts, which are recorded in its favor on the pages of 
history, neither are they essential to my purpose; for 
when I treat of its progress in America, I will give the 
niinutia of so many well authenticated facts, as shall leave 
no doubt on the minds of the most skeptical. 

Before entering on its rise in this country, I will giv^e 
the manipulations, or mode of magnetizing, as practised 
by Mesmer and Deleuze, with their followers, described 
by the last named commission in their report to the soci- 
ety. 

"The person" says the report "who was to be magnet- 
ized was placed in the sitting position, on a convenient 
sofa or upon a chair. The magnetizer, sitting on a little 
higher seat, before his face, and at about a foot distant, 
recollects himself a few moments, during which he holds 
the thumb of his patient, and remains in this position 
until he feels that the same degree of heat is established 
between the thumbs of that person and his own. Then 
he draws off his hands in turning them outwards, and 
places them upon the shoulders for nearly one minute. 
Afterwards he carries them down slowly, by a sort of 
friction, very light, along the arms, down to the extremi- 
ties of the fingers, — he begins again the same motion five 
or six times; it is what magnetizers call passes. Then 
he passes his hand over the head, keeps them there a few 
moments, brings them down in passing before the face, 
at the distance of one or two inches, to the epigastrium, 
where he stops again, either in bearing upon that region, 
or without touching it with his fingers. And he thus 
comes down slowly along the body, to the feet. These 
passes, or motions, are repeated during the greatest part 
of the course, and when he wishes to finish it, he carries 
them even beyond the extremities of the hands and feet, 
in shaking his fingers at each time. Finally, he performs 
before the face and the chest some transversal motions, 
at the distance of three or four inches, in presenting his 
two hands, put near one another, and in removing them 
abruptly. At other times, he brings near together the 
fingers of each hand, and presents them at three or four 
inches distant from the head or the stomach, in leaving 
them in that position for one or two minutes; then, alter* 



MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 277 

nately drawing them off, and bringing them near those 
parts, with more or less quickness, he imitates the motion 
that we naturally execute when we wish to get rid of a 
liquid which wet the extremity of our fingers. 

'.'These various modes were followed in all our experi- 
ments, without adhering to one rather than to the other, 
— often using but one, sometimes two; and we never were 
directed in the choice that we made of them, by the idea 
that one mode would produce a quicker or better marked 
effects than another. The commission will not follow 
in the enumeration of the facts it has observed; the order 
of the times when each of them was produced; we thought 
it more convenient, and above all, more rational, to pre- 
sent them to you, classed according to the degree, more 
or less decided, of the magnetical action that it recognized 
in each of them." 



I will give a single experiment from the many reported 
by the commission, to prove the influence of the magne- 
tic fluid. 

"The commission found among 
its members a gentleman who 
was willing to submit himself to 
the explosion of the somanm- 
bule; it was, Mr. Marc. Mile 
Celine was requested to care- 
fully examine the state of 
health of our colleague; she ap- 
plied her hand on his forehead, 
and the region of the heart, — 
and after three minutes, said 
that the blood was rushing to 
the head; that Mr. Marc actual- 
ly had a pain in the left side of 
that cavity; that he often felt 
some oppression, especially 
after his meals; that he was of- 
ten troubled with a slight 
cough, that the lower part of 
the chest was filled up with blood; that something troub- 
led the passage of the food; that the part called the 
region of the xiphoid (appendix,) had grown narrower; — 
that to cure Mr. Marc, it should be necessary to bleed 
him in an abundant manner; apply, on the interior part 
of the breast, poultices made with hemlock, and rub it 
with laudanum ; that he should drink lemonade, in which 
he should dissolve some gum arable; eat little, and oftenj 
finally he ought not to walk immediately after eating. 




278 MYSTERIES OF MAGJNETIO CLAIRVOYANCE. 

"We longed to hear from Mr. Marc, whether he had 
really felt what the soiiinauibule had announced; he said 
that he had, indeed, some oppression when he walked 
Inmiediately after his meals; that he was often troubled 
with cough, and that before the experiment, he had a 
pain in the left side of his head, but felt no difficulty in 
the passing down of his food." 

The present chapter, as I before remarked, sketches 
the era in Avhich somnambulism and clairvoyance were 
discovered in persons under the force of the magnetic 
fluid, and theref re a description of those extraordinary 
powers would be desirable and appropriate in this place. 

Magnetic Somnambulism, called simply "soumam- 
bulism," when treating of this science, differs only from 
the conmion somnambulism, or sleep walking, by being 
the known effect of magnetic fluid directed by the '■'mani- 
pulations which excites the phenomena; while the common 
sonmambulism or sleep-walking is produced by a natural 
sleep. Magnetic somnambulism, according to Deleuze, 
is "an inexplicable diancje lohich occur'i in the function of the 
)iervous system^ in the play of the 07'gans, and in the manner of 
receiving and transmitting sens(ttion.''\ The same author gives 
lucid directions for ascertaining when the patient is a 
sonmambulist; the following are the words : "If your 
patient speaks, and to the question, ' Do you sleep ?' 
answers, ' Yes;' he is a somnambulist." The same author 
continues, " when your somnambulist shall have given 
an affirmative answer to your first question, ' Are you 
asleep V you may address others to him. These questions 
should be simple, clear, well adapted, and concise; they 
should be made slowly, with an interval between them, 
leaving the somnambulist all the time he wishes to reflect 
on them." 

From the earliest times recorded in history we observe 
well-authenticated accounts of persons appearing, at var- 
ious times, who seemed to be endowed with supernatural 
powers of mind or body, which have enabled them to 
influence their fellow-men in a manner altogether inex- 
plicable, according to any ordinary laws of nature. 

Among the evidences of this fact we may mention the 
history of the ancient oracles, to which the wisest philos- 
ophers of antiquity bowed Avith a reverence that we now 
consider superstitious; the power of curing diseases by 
the touch, carried to an extent that seems, to our ordin- 
ary comprehension, absolutely miraculous; the power of 
predicting events by knowledge coumiunicated in dreams 



MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 279 

the influence possessed by great orators and certain 
religions impostors, who have from time to time led thou- 
sands of seemingly intelligent followers into the l)elief of 
the grossest absurdities that the imagination of man is 
capable of inventing; the effects on health and conduct 
produced by what has been termed witchcraft, and attri- 
buted to the direct agency of the spirit of evil, with many 
other mysteries of a similiar character. 

However we may endeavor to rid ourselves of all belief 
in these unusual, and seemingly uriaccountable phenom- 
ena, the force the multitude and the respectability of the 
evidence compel us reluctantly to admit the truth of 
these wonderful stories. We cannot refuse to acknowl- 
edge the facts, whatever we may think of theories and 
opinions based upon them. That man possesses some 
mysterious power over the feelings, thoughts and even 
the vital operations of his felloAV-man — a power that can- 
not be resisted, and may be employed for good piirpose 
at least, if not for evil ones — is a belief that has prevailed 
from the earliest times down to the present day. But it 
is only since the progress of physiology, electrical and 
magnetic science, during the last centuy, that any thing 
like a theory or philosophical explanation of these curi- 
ous facts has been attempted. A¥lien it was found out 
that the nerves of an animal could be violently excited by 
a mere contact of different inetais, and that a slight spark 
of electricity, would produce convulsions in the body of a 
dead animal, it was very natural that all the unaccount- 
able effects produced upon the human system by exter- 
nal agents, should be attributed to the subtle and invisible 
fluid that could thus seemingly awake the dead ! The effects 
of the electric shock on the living body, were well 
calculated to cause a belief that the nervous system was 
constantly under the influence of this fluid; and numerous 
curious experiments were made which tended to convince 
many philosophers that life itself was but the result of the 
action of electricity circulating through the nerves, and 
probably formed in the brain for this express purpose. 

When the identity of electricity and lightning had 
been proved by Dr. Franklin, Vvhen the strange action of 
metals upon the nerves was traced to the same general 
cause, and when it was discovered that the wonderful 
power of the magnetic needle to point towards one fixed 
spot in the heavens could be given, taken away, or al- 
tered by lightning, electricity or galvanism, it is not supris- 
ing that those who considered electricity as the vital 
principal, should give the name of aidmal magnetism to the 
power by which one mdividual appeared to be able to 



280 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 

draw, or attract that vital principal from one part of the 
body to another, so as to cure diseases by the touch, 
or to cause a sick person to sink into slumber at wiU. 

PLAN OF MESMER 

The celebrated Mesmer, who claimed the discovery of 
animal magnetism, always employed a complex appara- 
tus to generate, or rather to collect the magnetic fluid 
pervading, as he believed, all space ; and to direct a 
stream of it upon the patient, in order to cure diseases. 
In these recent times, when it is believed that all the as- 
tonishing effects of animal magnetism are produced by 
the action of the mind of one individual upon the nervous 
fluid of another, or by the actual transfer of the vital 
spirits from the magnetizer to the person magnetized, by 
a simple effect of the will, it is curious to recall the rude 
methods of Mesmer, who produced the same effects with- 
out being at all conscious of the mental character of his 
operations. The following description is an account of 
his apparatus and mode of acting, as given by the Royal 
Commissioners appointed by Louis XVI. to examine liis 
pretensions, in 1784. 

In the middle of a large room was placed a circular ves- 
sel or tub, a few feet in hight, furnished with a lid in two 
parts, inovii g on hinges in a central line. This lid was 
perforated with holes, through which were inserted a 
number of firm and movable rods. Its interior was occu- 
pied by bottles filled with water previously magnetized. 
These were placed over one another in such a manner, 
that the first row had their necks converging towards the 
centre of the vessel, and their bases turned to the circum- 
ference; and the next set was arranged in an opposite 
direction. The tub itself contained also a certain quan- 
tity of water, filling up the interstices which were left 
by this symmetrical arrangment of bottles; and to this 
a quantity of iron filings, pounded glass, sulphur, man- 
ganese, and a variety of other substances, was occasion- 
ally added. The patients then stood round the appara- 
tus, and applied the iron rods to the affected parts of the 
body, or encircled themselves with a hoop suspended for 
that purpose. Sometimes they laid hold on each other 
by the thumb and index finger, and formed what was 
called a chain. The magnetizer then held an iron rod, 
which he moved to and fro before them, for the purpose 
of directing at will the course of the magnetic fluid. The 
whole apparatus, or water, bottles and metallic rods, was 
supposed to facilitate the circulation of the fluid; and du- 



MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 281 

ring this time a person occasionally played on the piano 
or harinonicon; for it was one of Mesmer's opinions that 
the magnetic flQid was especially propagated by sound. 
Though the apparatus just described was used to increase 
the power of the magnetizer, yet the universal fluid was 
supposed to be every where, and the magnetizer himself 
was thought to possess a certain quantity which he could 
comumnicate and direct, either by means of a rod, or 
simply by the motion of his outstretched fingers. To 
these gestures, perfoi-uied at a distance, were also added 
certain slight touching on the hypochondria, the epigas- 
tric region, or the limbs. In order to increase the power 
of these processes, trees, water, food and other objects, 
were magnetized, for ail the bodies in nature are, accord- 
ing to Mesmer, susceptible of magnetism. 

Tlie following parti(;ulars are taken from Mesmer's 
own directions for using animal magnetism : 

Wlien a healthy person is brought into immediate con- 
tact with a sick person, in whom one or more functions 
are disordered, the latter feels, in the morbid part, sensa- 
tions more or less acute. 

In order to magnetize the patient, you must place your- 
self opposite to hhn, with your back turned towards the 
north, and draw your own close against his feet; you 
must then place, without pressure, both your tliumbs up- 
on tlie plexus of nerv^es in the epigastrium (the pit of the 
stomach), and stretcli your fingers towards the hypo- 
chondria (the part of each side of the body where the 
short ribs are found). It is beneficial, occasionally, to 
move the fingers on the sides, especially in the region of 
the spleen. 

Before you cease magnetizing, you must endeavor to 
put the magnetic fluid in equilibrium in every part of the 
body. This may be done by presenting the index finger 
of the right hand at the summit of the head, t)n the left 
side, and tlien drawing it down the face to the breast, 
and over the lower extremities. In this manoeuvre an 
iron rod may be used instead of the finger. When patients 
form a chain, in the manner already described, by taking 
hold of each other's hands, the power of magnetism is 
augmented. 

The effects produced by such process, says the Baron 
Dupotet, were not less strange than the processes them- 
selves. The patients experienced many unusual sensa- 
tions, such as undefinable pains in tlie body, particularly 
in the head and stomach; an increase or suppression of 
cutaneous perspiration of the heart, and a momentary 
obstruction of breathing. Sometimes a certain exaltation 



2S2 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 

of the mind, and a lively sense of comfort were ex- 
perienced. The nervous system in particular, was often 
powerfully affected. Ringing in the ears, vertigo, and 
sometimes somnolency of a peculiar kind supervened. 
These effects were varied according to the constitution 
and the disease of the patients, but they increased as the 
operation proceeded, and terminated in convulsions! 
Wheia many patients were magnetized at once, and one 
became affected with convulsions, the others soon ex- 
hibited the same symptoms. The condition was termed 
a magnetic crisis; it was regarded as an effort of nature 
t» effect a cure, and it was tiie constant aim of Mesmer to 
produce it. Many very curious moral phenomena were 
also commonly displayed during the magnetic operation. 
Some patients burst into innnoderate fits of laughter; 
others were dissolved in tears. Some seemed attracted 
towards each other by the strongest affection, while 
others displayed mutual antipathy. But the most sur- 
prising circumstance was the prodigious influence that 
the magnetizer exercised over his patients. The least 
sign of his will excited or calmed the convulsions, and 
command love or hatred. He thus stood before them 
like a magician with his wand, keeping their souls and 
bodies in submissive obedience. 

PRINCIPLES OP DELEUZE. 

But the progress of science since the days of Mesmer, 
has proved that many of his processes were altogether un- 
necessary, and the use of machinery, or metallic wands, 
is now entirely relinquished. Though convulsions are still 
produced, in some persons, by the magnetizer, it is no 
longer his desire to produce them; for all the benefits, 
and all the curious mental phenomena, of magnetism 
may result without any such consequence. The manual 
processes of different operators are now exceedingly var- 
ious; and it is found, that after an individual has been 
placed several times under the influence of magnetism, 
all ics effects may sometimes be produced by the simple 
will of the magnetizer, without any manipulation what- 
ever ! Two doctrines now divide those who practice on 
the principles of this science into different sects. The 
first attributes all the phenomena to the action of the 
nervous fluid of one individual, directed by the will, over 
the nervous system of another; while the second con- 
siders the soul itself as one of the chief agents in produc- 
ing these effects. To avoid confusing the mind of the 
reader with unnecessary statements of these differences 



MYSTERIES OP MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 283 

of mere opinion, it will be best to give the doctrines of 
the science, as now generally believed, from the work of 
M. Deleuze, one of the most active and successful practi- 
tioners of animal magnetism, omitting only those of his 
principles that have been dispr®ved, or rendered doubt- 
ful by the experience of his brethern. In his chapter of 
General Views and Principles, this highly distinguished 
author makes the following statements: 

1. Man has the faculty of exercising over his fellow 
men a salutary influence in directing towards them, by 
his will, the vital principle, 

2. The name of Magnetism has been given to this 
faculty; it is an extension of the power which all living 
beings have, of acting upon those who submitted to their 
will- 

3. We perceive this faculty only by its results; and we 
make no use of it, except so far as we will use it. 

4. The first condition of action, then, is to receive the 
will. 

5. As we cannot comprehend how a body can act upon 
another at a distance, without something to establish a 
communication between them, we suppose that a sub- 
stance emanates from the magnetizer, and is conveyed to 
the magnetized persons, in a direction dicta.ted by the 
will. This substance, which supports life in us, we call the 
magnetic fluid. Its nature is unknown, and even its ex 
istence has not been demonstrated; but everything takes 
place as if it existed, and this justifies us in admitting its 
existence. 

6. Belief in our power to accomplish our purpose is as 
necessary to the eflect as the will to doit; for without self 
confidence the magnetizer will not succeed. * 

7. In order that one individual should act upon 
another, it is necessary that there should be a moral and 
physical sympathy between them; and when this sym- 
pathy is produced, we say that the parties are in cbm- 
umnication with each other. 

8. In order that the action of animal magnetism 
should be safe and useful, it is necessary that the magnet- 



*It appears from the evidence of other observers, that the rule is 
subject to some exceptions; for there are a few persons so hap- 
pily constituted, that tliey have beeti known to mag-netize others 
without any intention, and even when they had no taith in the soi- 
ance; but these cases very seldom occur. Many of the wonderful 
etfects of oratory, and certain religious exercises, as well as the 
personal intiuence of some physicians in curing- the sick by their 
manner and presence, almost without medicine, are probably ow- 
ing to a magnetic influence, of which the actors are themselves 
unconscious, 



2?4 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 

izer should be influenced only by the desire of doing 
good. 

9. Direct communication betAveen persons is not abso- 
lutely necessarj^ to the transfer of the magnetic fluid; for 
water, food, and other bodies may be charged with the 
fluid, and employed to convey it to the person for whom 
the magnetizer expressly designs it. 

10. Magnetism or the operation of magnetism, spring^ 
from three things: — the will to act, a sign to express that 
will, and confidence in the success of the attempt; and 
unless the purpose be also good, the effects, though 
obvious, will be irregular. 

11. The faculty of magnetizing exists in every one, but 
not to the same extent. The difference is caused by the 
moral and intellectual superiority of some over others, 
and the most important requisites is a powerful mag- 
netizer and self-confidence, energy of Avill, the power of 
concentrating the attention and the Avill upon one object 
for a long time, benevolence, moral courage, and self- 
possession on the occurance of alarming crises, and pa- 
tient calmness of mind. Good health also increases the 
power, because it is a mark of vital energy. When all 
these advantages in a high degree are combined in ©ne 
individual, he is often found to possess such magnetic 
power that sometimes he may be obliged to moderate it. 
The power is very much increased by practice. 

12. The magnetic influence flows from all parts of the 
body, and the will may direct it any where; but the 
hands and the eyes are better fitted than other parts to 
throw off and direct the current determined by the Avill. 

13. Magnetism can be conveyed to great distances 
when persons are in perfect communication. 

14. There are some individuals who are sensible of mag- 
netic action; and the same individuals are more or less so, 
according to their tenporary dispositions at that moment. 
Persons in good health rarely feel its effects; nor are we 
able to judge, except by trial, who is subject to them, 
and who is not; but at least three-fourths of manldnd 
may be acted upon. 

15. Women and men possess the power of magnetizing 
in an equal degree. 

16. Whatever vital energy or magnetic fluid is convey- 
ed to the patient by the magnetizer, is lost by the latter; 
and if the sessions be continued too long, or be too fre- 
quently repeated, he may become very much exhausted 
by this loss. The weakness sometimes felt by the mag- 
netizer is not produced by the motions and exertions that 



MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 285 

he uses, but by the flow of the fluid from him to his pa- 
tient. 

17. Cofldence on the part of the person magnetized is 
not necessary to success. 

18. The choice of a particular process is not necessary 
to give direction to the action of magnetism. But it is 
best to choose and follow some one method, so as never 
to be perplexed and compelled, while acting, to draw off 
the attention, in order to decide what motion it is "most 
proper to take. 

19. It is very dangerous to interrupt a crisis, however 
alarming it may be; and we should never attempt to act, 
unless we are secured against all interruptions from our 
own affairs the person magnetized or his friends. 

Such are the doctrines now usually adopted by the pro- 
f essers of animal magnetism. 

INFLUENCE OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM ON THE BODY. 

The effects of animal magetism are very various, be- 
cause they are influenced not only by the constitution, 
actual condition, and faith of the patient, but also by the 
energy and the moral and physical character of the 
operator. 

Many of these effects are so astonishing, that the 
student of this wonderful subject is absolutely alarmed, 
at first, by the multitude of well authenticated facts that 
seem to exceed the bounds of faith. But when they are 
attentively examined, beginning at first with those which 
are of a more simple nature, and then proceeding to those 
which are less consistent with our preconceived notions 
of the laws of nature; especially when we compare these 
effects with the symptoms observed in natural somnam- 
bulism, in certain cases of epilepsy and in hysteric catal- 
eptic ecstacy, we shall be prepared to acknowledge that 
it is impossible to refuse them our credence, however 
difficult it may be to explain them in a manner complete- 
ly satisfactory. We cannot deny the truth of well- 
authenticated facts simply because they are mysterious, 
for all nature is a mystery. 

When an individual is placed under the influence of 
magnetism, the symptoms most commonly observed in 
the first instance are as follows : Slight pricking and 
winking of the eyelid ; an increased, or sometimes a 
diminished, rapidity of the pulse; a sensible alteration 
of the temperature of the body ; a flushing or an ex- 
treme paleness of the cheeks, and a remarkable change 
of the countenance; stretchmg, or a deep yawning comes 



286 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 

on; a gurgling in the throat is often heard; the patient 
may feel a desire to move, but finds himself unable to 
do so ; he experiences an indescribable couiposure, and 
a sense of calm delight ; the breathing becomes much 
affected, and is sometimes rendered much slower, even 
when the pulse increases in rapidity. These are the 
simplest effects, but often, under circumstances not to 
be foreseen, piienomena of a more remarkable charac- 
ter appear. The eyelids are spasmodically affected, and 
close against tlie will of tlie patient. He finds it im- 
possible to keep awake, and, ' if the operation be con- 
tinued, he gradually sinks into a slumber more or less 
profound. Tiie head falls on the chest, or thrown back- 
wards; the eyelids are generally half open, and the eye- 
ball moves slowly in the socket, but gradually becomes 
fixed; drops of mucus fall from the lips, the limbs become 
cold, and the respiration audible. If spoken to, the 
sleeper may attempt to speak, without success ; or he 
may start awake, rub his eyes, stare round with as- 
tonishment, and remember what has passed as we 
remember a dream. To disturb any one in this state is 
highly improper, for this may produce convulsions, and 
the interference of others with the proceedings of the 
magnetizer ma.y produce dangerous consequences. Con- 
vulsions, or crisis of the kind described by Mesmer, are 
not at all uncommon. 

The kind of sleep just described differs entirely from 
natural sleep. Its phenomena were first discovered by 
the Marquis de Puyeegur, and have escaped, in a great 
degree, the observation of Mesmer. In order to dis- 
tinguish it from the natural, has been termed the magne- 
tic sleep, or Somnambulism. It may be more or less 
complete. 

In order to give the reader an idea of the condition of 
a person who has been thrown into the state of magnetic 
sleep, we will now describe the phenomena observed by 
all who have given serious attention to this singular 
subject. In this peculiar state the surface of the body is 
sometimes actually sensible; but more frequently, the 
feeling is totally destroyed. The jaws are firmly locked, 
and cannot be opened by any effort; the limbs are often 
rendered inflexible; the senses of sight, hearing, and 
smell are so completely benumbed, that neither the 
strongest light, the loudest sounds, nor the most pungent 
odors, can arouse the slighest attention. We may prick, 
pinch, tear, or burn any part of the body, without 
awakening the consciousness of the patient. Extreme, 
and altogether unwarrantable cruelties have often been 



MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 287 

practiced upon persons in magnetic sleep, and though 
unfelt at the time, they have given rise to great tortui-e 
after the senses were recovered. Though these proceed 
ings were most unwarrantable, it is now too late to re- 
medy them, and we may quote them without impropriety 
in proof of the wonderful effects of magnetism, after pro- 
testing against the repetition of such injurious and 
dangerous experiments. 

Many incredulous physicians of Paris induced Baron 
Dupetet to perform a series of experiments of that cele- 
brated hospital, the Hotel Dieu of Paris, in the jenr 1820. 
In speaking of the trials made to test the insensibility of 
the patients, he states that their nostrils and lips were 
tickled with feathers, smoke was introduced into their 
nostrils, their skin was bruised by pinching till the blood 
came, and the feet of one person were placed in a hot 
infusion of mustard seed, but no change of countenance 
was produced; but on waking, they all experienced the 
pain such treatment was likely to occasion. Some of these 
physicians learned the art of magnetizing, and carried 
these cruelties much farther for their own satisfaction. 
Dr. Roboum, who was then attached to the hospital, 
reports the following facts in relation to the case of a man 
named Starin, v/hose bed was No. 8 of the ward Sainte 
Madelaine. M. Recamier (a physician of high celebrity 
i$i Paris) first threatned the patient that he would burn 
him with moxa (a slow fire applied to the part), if he 
suffered himself to go to sleep. Dr. Roboum then magne- 
tized him, and forced him to sleep against his will, and M. 
Recamier applied the moxa on the front of the right 
thigh, producing an eschar nearly an inch and a half long 
and an inch in breadth. Starin showed no sign of pain, 
either by look or cry, nor was his pulse in the least altered 
until Dr. R. roused him from the magnetic sleep. 

In another case, reported by the same physician, a 
female patient, named JLeroy, was magnetized, and while 
in the magnetic sleep, agaric, one of the most pungent 
substances known to us, was burned immediately under 
her nose by M. Gilbert. M. Recamier then applied moxa 
over the pit of the stomach, producing an eschaj' of nearly 
the same size, but not the slightest sign of feeling was 
produced until after her sensibility was restored by the 
magnetizer, when she suffered intensly. 

It has been mentioned, that, while under the effects 
of magnetism, the patient is completely under the control 
of the magnetizer, and when cast into the state of slum- 
ber and insensibility, it often ha|)pens that the continu- 
ance of the operation produces wliat is called the som- 



288 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 

nambulic state. The patient then appears to be awake 
to the influence of the niagnetizer, or any other person 
or thhigs with whom tlie latter has been chosen to put 
him in comnmnication, but is perfectly asleep and insen- 
sible to all the rest of this world When in this condition, 
the magnetic sleeper, while absolutely insensible to all 
other external impressions, is mentally conscious of every 
act and thought of the niagnetizer. He will hear even 
at a distance, the slightest modulation of his voice, 
though inaudible to those around. The following case, 
reported in the same manner "with the two former, will 
give some idea of the phenomena attending the somnam- 
bulic condition : 

Catherine Samson, a young girl of much natural timid- 
ity, was put to sleep in about fifteen minutes. Many 
persons present endeavored to rouse her, by first indivi- 
dually, and then collectively, screaming suddenly in her 
ears. They struck violently, with their clinched fists, 
upon various pieces of furniture, but could not obtain 
any symptom of her hearing the loudest noise. On 
another occasion she feel asleep in three minutes. M. 
Recamier opened her eyelids, shook her violently, struck 
the table with all his might, pinched her repeatedly, 
squeezed her hand violently, raized her from her seat and 
sucldenly let her fall. Still no change was perceptible, — 
nothing which could convey an idea that the patient 
either saw or felt. When the niagnetizer spoke, how- 
ever, she heard him distinctly. M. Recamier then alter- 
nated his voice with that of the niagnetizer, but to his 
voice she was insensible. 

On the third trial she fell asleep in three minutes. The 
bystanders attempted to rouse her by abuse. They called 
her an impostor, taxed her with scandalous conduct, and 
threatned to kick her out of the room; but even this very 
philosophical proceeding produced no effect. In the 
evening of the same day she was again magnetized in 
bed, fell asleep in a few minutes, and remained in the 
somnambulic state all night. Those appointed to watch 
her observed that she never moved. They pulled and 
plucked out her hair by the roots, but could detect no 
sign of sensation. More than six years after this, the 
same Mademoiselle Samson was magnetized before the 
second committee of investigation, some of whom were 
well acquainted with her, and had the fullest confidence 
in her good faith. 

In a case reported by M. Bouillet, professor of philoso- 
phy at the college of Saint-Barbe, a young woman was 
magnetizeti by him, and when somnambulic, was Intro- 



MYSTERIES OP MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 2S9 

duced into the presence of about twenty persons. " This 
,9eance," says he, " was nearly a repetition of the same 
boisterous scenes wliich had before occured at the Hotel 
Dieu; and every possible means was had recourse to for 
the purpose of making the patient hear others, and pre- 
venting her hearing nie. She was tormented in a thous- 
and ways without effect, a young man who was present 
having provided himself, unknown to me, with a pocket- 
pistol, with the view of making a decisive experiment, 
suddenly and unexpectedly fired it off close to her ear. 
Every person present started, and several ladies' taken 
by surprise, screamed out violently; but the somnambu- 
list was not interrupted in quietly continuing a sentence 
which at the moment she was addressing to me. It 
sliould be added that the pistol was fired off so close to 
he I- ear, that the bonnet and cap of the poor girl were 
scorched, and some of the powder lodged under the 
contused cuticle, yet did she remain perfectly insensible, 
although, on being awakened, she felt the most acute 
pain in the neck, and discovered with indignation the 
state into which, to my deep regret, she had been thrown, 
and from wliich, for upwards of a fortnight, she suffered 
severely." 

Important Medical testimony in favor of Mesmerism. 

Among other astonishing proofs of the insensibiliy of 
the magnetic somnambulist, the following facts, very 
rapidly selected from the mass of evidence, may be pre- 
ferred on account of the very high character of the au-^ 
thorities from which they are derived. M. Husson 
president of the Academy of Medicine of Paris, states that 
he has seen a bottle containing several ounces of concen- 
trated ammonia held for five, ten, fifteen or more min- 
utes, immediately under the nose of the sleeper, without 
the slightest effect. Dr. Bertrand saw forty or fifty pins 
thrust simultaneously by as many witnesses, mto the 
flesh of a somnambulist who was singing, " without 
causing the least appreciable alteration in his voice. 
This horrible cruelty was committed at the request of the 
magnetizer? M. Sauvage-de-la-croix, in the Memoires de 
TAccidemie des sciences, gives an account of a girl at 
Montpelier, on whom, when somnambulic, he tried, among 
other vain attempts to rouse her, putting brandy and 
spirits of hartshorn in her mouth, tickling th© ball of the 
eye with a feather, blowing snuff into the nostrils, and 
violently twisting the fingers. She neve^ gave the slight- 
est sign of sensation. 

In the tenth volume of the Bibliotheque de Medecine, 
there is an account of a female somnambulist, who was 



290 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 

severly whipped over the bare shoulders without effect, 
and once had lier back most savagely smeared with honey 
and was exposed to the stinging of bees: but she fel't 
nothing till she was awakened, wlien, of course, she 
suffered acute agony. Messrs. Poissac, Foquier, Guersent 
and Itard, men of liigh celebrity, and members of the in- 
quest establisiied by the Royal i> ^ademy, all give testi- 
mony to facts of a similar nature. 

But even severe surgical operations have been perfor- 
naed on patients without their knowledge, while their 
senses were buried in magnetic sleep ! A man in the 
department of Gers, in France, had an extremely painful 
abscess of the thigti, and it was resolved to spare him 
the pain of operation, by performing it while under the 
effects of magnetism. This was done by Dr. Larieu, 
alter the patient had been rendered somnambulic by 
the Counte de Brivazac. During the operation the pa- 
tient remained motionless as a statue. When awa- 
kened, M. Roc asked him whether he would submit to 
the operation; he replied, "I suppose I must, since it 
is necessary." M. Roc tiien informed him that it was 
over. The astonishment of the patient may be con- 
ceived, when he discovered the fact, for he had neither 
seen nor felt it; and the last thing he remembered was, 
the act of M. de Brivazac laying his hand on his fore- 
head to induce sleep ! 

All the tests of insensibility that have been mention- 
ed, except the more surgical operations, have been 
tried again and again in this country, and even in this 
city. The observations of Dr. Capron, of Providence, 
R. I., have led to so much public discussion, that almost 
every one must have some knowledge of them. Dr. J. 
K. Mitchell and Dr. Pierce, of Philadelphia, have both 
experimented extensively on this subject. The former 
is said to have caused teeth to be extracted from pa- 
tients during the magnetic sleep, without awakening 
any consciousness; and the latter found somnambulists 
perfectly insensible to the strongest odors, while their 
thoughts, their taste, and their muscular power, seem- 
ed to be entirely subjected to the will of the magne- 
tizer. 

But the most astounding case of magnetic insensibi- 
lity that has been recorded, is that reported by M 
Jules Gloquet to the French Academy. The high cha- 
racter, deep learning, and great practical ability of M. 
Cloquet, render it impossible to doubt the truth of any 
statement to which he would affix his name. The case 
was as follows : 



MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 291 

Madame Plantin, a lady of sixty-four years of age, 
consulted M. Cioquet on the 8th of April, 1829, for an 
ulcerated cancer in the right breast, with which she 
had been afflicted for several years, and which was 
complicated with a considerable enlargement of the cor- 
responding axillary glands. M. Chapelain, her physician, 
had heen in the habit of magnetizing her, without any 
other good effect than producing the magnetic sleep, 
with its usual insensibility. He proposed that M. Cio- 
quet should operate upon her while in this state, Avhich 
was agreed to. 

On the day appointed for the operation, M. Cioquet, 
on his arrival at half- past ten o'clock in the morning found 
the patiesnt dressed and sitting in an arm chair, in the 
attitude of a person in a tranquil, natural sleep. She had 
returned, nearly an hour previously, from mass, which 
she was accustomed to attend at that time. M. Chape- 
lain had thrown her into the magnetic sleep after her re- 
turn, and she then spoke with umch composure of the 
operation she was about to undergo. All the arrange- 
ments being made, she undressed herself, and seated her- 
self in a chair. M. Chapelain supported her right arm, 
and the left was suffered to hang down. M. Pailloux, 
eleve interne of the Hopital St. Louis, was employed to 
present the instruments and tie the vessels. The first in- 
cision, couunencing at the armpit, was carried round the 
loAver part of the tumor till it met the first. The enlarged 
glands were then dissected with precaution, on account of 
their vicinity to a very large artery, and the tumor was 
extirpated. The operation lasted from ten to twelve min- 
utes, and during the whole time the patient continued 
conversing tranquilly with the operator, and did not give 
the slightest sign of sensibility ; no motion of the limbs or 
of the features ; no change in the respiration or the voice; 
no alteration even in the pulse could be perceived : the 
patient never ceased to be in that state of automatic aban- 
don and passiveness in which she had been for some min- 
utes before the operation. It was not even necessary to 
hold her ; they only supported her. A ligature was ap- 
plied to an artery that had been divided (the most pain-> 
ful part of all operations and the wound was dressed. 
The first dressings were remoyed, and the wound cleansed 
and redressed, on the 14th, without any sign of pain being 
given. After this dressing, M. Chapelain awakened her, 
the magnetic sleep having continued from an hour before 
the operation for two entire days. She was then again 
put to sleep, but it is not stated for how long a tune. 

Though some persons seem to be incapable of being 



292 MYSTERIES GF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 

magnetized powerfully, and others yield with difficulty 
yet there are some who fall under this influence almost 
almost instantaneously. M. Dupotet remarks, "A young 
girl, or rather a child, for she is not twelve years of age, 
at this moment attends my demonstrations, who is so 
susceptible of the magnetic "influence, that she almost in- 
stantly falls asleep, and the approximation of my fingers 
towards her causes a short and quick convulsive start, 
which seems to pervade her whole frame." 

NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS. 

Such is the command of the will of the magnetizer over 
the muscles of the magnetic sleeper, that he can deter- 
mine, in many cases, what part of the body shall be at 
rest, and what part in motion. Sometimes the hand of 
the patient will follow that of the operator in all its 
movements as the needle, will follow the magnet. 

Even the whole person may appear to be attracted in 
this manner; and when a magnetizer allows himself to 
become alarmed at the consequence of his own acts, this 
condition of things may become exceedingly distressing. 
There is a well-authenticated story of a French nobleman 
who magnetized his favorite daughter in mere sport, be- 
fore a considerable circle of observers, neither of them 
having faith in the process. But to the utter horror of 
the father, the laughter of the daughter at the whole pro- 
ceeding, which had gradually assumed more and more 
the character of fatuity, without his suspecting that the 
change was other than a jocose affection, was soon set- 
tled into a complete appearance of idiocy; and when he 
turned from it in distress, the daughter rose and followed 
him about the range of apartments, as if actuated by his 
will alone, nor could he escape the presence of that dis- 
torted and convulsed countenance that he had agitated, 
but had not presence of mind to allay. This young lady 
was seriously in danger of suffering permanently from the 
consequences of her father''s want of self-possession and 
firmness; for it is extremely injurious to lose sight of the 
original purpose when a crisis is impending, until that 
crisis is complete. The magnetizer should never leave 
his patient until all signs of undue agitation have sub- 
sided, in case where convulsive symptoms are present. 

The following extracts from the report of the com- 
missioners of the French Academy, will give an idea of 
the extent to which the motions of the sleeper may be 
sometimes controlled by the operator. The gentleman 



MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 293 

(M. Petit) subjected to this experiment was affected with 
a paralysis of tiie face from an abscess. 

"Tlie patient was in a short time put to sleep; after 
which, in order to remove every suspicion of any previous 
understanding between him and the operator, the com- 
missioners handed to M. Dupotet a note, written at the 
moment, wherein they had specified the parts they wish- 
ed to be convulsed. Possessed of this instruction, M. 
Dupotet first directed his hand towards the right wrist, 
which immediately became convulsed. He then stood 
behind the patient, and directed his finger first towards 
the left thigh, then towards the left elbow, and lastly 
towards the head. Each of these parts was almost im- 
mediately seized with convulsive movements. M. Du- 
potet then directed his left leg against that of the pa- 
tient, which became so much agitated that he nearly 
fell off his seat. Ke then directed liis foot towards the 
right elbow of M. Petit, which became violently agitated; 
he then stretched his foot towards the left hand and 
elbow, and violent convulsive movements developed 
themselves in the upper limbs. One of the commis- 
sioners, M.. Marc, with the intention of obviating more 
efl'ectually every possibility of deception blindfolded the 
patient, and the preceding experiments were repeated, 
with a slight variation in the result. Messrs. Thillage 
and Marc directed their fingers towards different parts 
of the body, and provoked some convulsive movements, 
which were, however, less promptly developed and more 
feeble. Tiiis occurred vvhether his eyes were blinded or 
not, and these convulsive movements were more mark- 
ed when the parts operated upon were submitted to the 
action of a metallic rod, whether in the shape of a key 
or the branch of a pah' of spectacles." 

INFIiUE]!fCE OF AjVniMAIi MAGNETISM ON THE MIND. 

Thus far the attention of the reader has been direct- 
ed to the physical effects of animal magnetism on the 
bod}^ but the effects produced upon the mind, in those 
persons who are rendered somnambuhc, are often far 
more wonderful. 

It was the celebrated Marquis de Puysegur who first 
particularly observed the mental condition that has been 
termed magnetic somnambulism. He was a student of 
Mesmer, and a most able magnetizer, practising the art 
solely for the benefit of the sick, and univ^ersally beloved 
for his benevolence and amiability. The history of his 
discovery is as follows ; 



204 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 



While magnetizing his gardener, an ignorant rustic, 
he observed him fall into a deep and tranquil sleepi 
It then occurred to him to address to the sleeper a few 
questions, which he did, and the man immediately an- 
swered him with intelligence and clearness. He soon 
found that he possessed a peculiar power over the mind 
of his patient, and that he had but to will a question 
and it was answered. Their souls seemed to be in com- 
munication as well as their bodies ! In speaking of his 
gardner while in this condition, he says : " He is no 
longer, when in the magnetic state, a peasant who can 
hardly utter a single sentence, he is a being to describe 
whom I cannot find a name. I need not speak; I have 
only to think before him, when he instantly hears and 
answers me. Should any body come into the room, he 
sees him if 1 desire it, and addresses him, and says what I 
wish him to say, not indeed exactly as I dictate to him, 
but as truth requires. When he wants to add any thing 
more than I deem it prudent strangers should hear, I 
stop the flow of his ideas, and of his conversation, in the 
middle of a word, and give his thoughts quite a different 
turn. I know of no subject more profound, more lucid, 
than this peasant in his crisis. I have several patients 
approaching his state of lucidity, but none to equal him." 
Tlus patient, like many others since observed, had the 

power of perceiving his own 
internal structure, and dis- 
tinguishing what was the dis- 
ease. He prescribed what 
treatment he required, when 
he would be benefited by be- 
iig magnetized again, and 
A hen he would be well, if so 
reated. The Marquis follow- 
ed his du-ections, and every 
! liing happened as he pre- 
dicted. 

All the magnetizers who 
now attempt to trea,t diseases 
in this manner, prefer the 
knowledge of the patient when 
possessed of this luciditv and second-sight (clairvoyance 
and prevoyance) to their own judgment, and the result 
proves the propriety of doing so. " These patients, 
says the Marquis, " during the crisis, possess a supernar 
tural power, by which, on touching a patient presented 
to them, as passing their hand even over the clothes, 
they feel which is the affected viscus (internal organj— 





MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCE. 295 

the suffering part; they point *t out, and indicate pretty 
nearly the suitable reu'iedies." One of these sleepers told 
the Marquis that he was subject to frequent headaches 
a buzzing in his ears, which was true, though he had 
complained of it to no one. A young man w^io was pre- 
sent at this experiment, but who ridiculed the preten- 
sions of magnetism, Avas told that his complaint consisted 
in pains of the stomach and other disorders in the abdo- 
men, that had been produced by a disease which he had 
suffered from some years before. And when, still doubt- 
ing, he applied to be examined by another magnetic 
sonmambulist, distant some twenty yards from tlie first, 
he was told JQst the saine thing, by which he was utterly 
confounded. 

A w^ell-knov^Ti physician of high standing at Provi- 
dence, Rhode Island, at one time employed a sleeper in 
his family, to assist in determining the character of occult 
du'eases in patients who consulted him at his office. The 
results were singular and important. Once she declared 
the cause of deafness by describing the internal ear and 
brain, and at another time pointed out the cause of an 
Incurable blindness, by describing a red tumor at the 
back part of the eye. She knew nothing of anatomy, 
and the parts described are entirely out of the reach of 
natural vision. 

M. Husson describes the condition of the sleeper in this 
state as fallows: 

"Tiie somnambulist has his eyes closed. He neither 
sees with his eyes, nor hears with his ears; yet he sees 
and hearb better than a waking person. He sees and 
hears only those with whom he is in relation. He sees 
only that at which he looks, and he usually looks at 
those objects only to wiiich his attention is directed. He 
is submissive to the will of the magnetizer in all things 
wliich cannot injure himself, and in all that does not 
oppose his own ideas of justice and truth. He sees, 
or rather he has a perception of the interior of his 
own body and that of others; but he usually remarks 
those parts only wliich are not in a natural state, and 
which disturb the harmony of it. He recalls to his 
memory things which he had forgotten in his ^vaking 
state. He has provisions and presentiments which may 
be erroneous in several circumstances, and which ai-e 
limited in their extent. He expresses himself with sur- 
prising faculty. He is not free from vanity. He becomes 
more accurate by degrees, for a certain time is guided 
with discretion, but if ill directed he goes astray. When 
returned to his natural condition, he entirely loses the 



296 MYSTERIES OF MAGNETIC CLAIRVOYANCK 

recollection of all the sensations and ideas he had during 
his state of souinambulisni; so that those two states are 
as entirely strangers to one another as if the somnambu- 
list and the waking man were two different persons." 

No obstacle seems to bound the vision of the somnam • 
bulist, and at the will of the magnetiser he can see some- 
times from the back of the head, and sometimes from the 
pit of the stomach, or the tips of the fingers. 

M. Rostan, in the Diciiinaire des Sciences^ Medieaies art Mag- 
netisme^ gives an account of an experiment performed by 
him in the presence of M. Ferres. ' ' I took my watch 
and held it afc the back of the head of the somnambulist 
at a distance of three or four inches from the occiput. I 
asked her if she saw anything. ' Certainly,' said she ; 'I 
see something shining; it gives me pain.' Her counte- 
nance was expressive of pain, and ours bespoke our as- 
tonishmento We stared at each other, and M. Ferrers at 
last broke silence by observing to me, that if she could 
see something shine, she could probably see what it was. 

" 'What do you see shining ?' 'O ! I do not know; I 
cannot tell.' 'Look well., Why, it fatigues me so. AVhy, 
it is a w^atch. ' Fresh surprise on our part. 'But if she 
can see that it is a watch,' again said M. Ferrers, 'she 
will probably tell us of the time. Can you tell me what 
time it is?' 'Oh' no ! that is too difficult.. Pay attention 
and look well !' 'Well, I will try„ I can perhaps tell the 
hour, but I can never see the minutes.' When she had 
looked with the utmost attention, she said, 'It is ten min- 
utes to eight ;' which was then the exact time. M. Fer- 
rers wished to repeat the experiment himself, which he 
did, with similar success. He altered the direction of the 
hands on his watch several times, and when it was pre- 
sented to her without our having looked at it, she was 
right every time, 

M. Chardel narrates a case of a magnetic somnambule, 
who, while quietly sitting in her chah-, saw him go into 
another room for a decanter of water. He went to a filter- 
ing tank, turned the cock, but no water came. He spfit 
ott" a piece of wood and picked the spigot with it, think- 
ing that the passage was obstructed, but without success. 
He then picked the air-hole, but no water came; at last 
he filled his decanter with unfiltered water, the som- 
nambule, on his return, told him all of his motions, 
without omittting a single circumstance notwithstanding 
there were between her and him two wall and a par- 
lor. 



NEW THEOEY OE ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 297 



New Theory of Animal Magnetism. 

In searching for materials to form a theory of Animal 
Magnetism, it is only necessary to sweep, with a thought, 
the accumulated obstructions from the pathway of time, 
and look back on the chaotic mass as it moves in retro- 
spection from behind the dim nebula to occupy the more 
conspicuous station assigned to it in cosmogony. See now 
the simple forms of matter, all globular, and how few in 
number; count them; there are less than one hundred, 
but they are all moving to join in various proportions, 
and form an infinite number of objects; oxygen and nitro- 
gen have come together, and now f oi-m a new transparent 
called atmosphere. A new composition of matter is now 
to be formed. See moving from a distance, two large 
collections of very small globules; the smallest collection 
is oxygen, and extends six hundred and sixty-two miles; 
the largest collection is hydrogen, and extends one thou- 
sand three hundred and twenty-five miles; the two col- 
lections have now come together, and formed a pond of 
transparent water, only one mile in length. Again the 
simple globules are in motion, and now many of them 
meet together and form a granite rock ; others, collected 
in another place, have formed earth, A new substance 
is now to be formed, many kinds of globules are now 
moving; they are now together, and form iron ore. The 
simple globules are now every where in motion, and 
meeting together in different clusters, from all the inam- 
inate objects-composing the universe. A more beautiful 
formation is now to take place, the globules are collect- 
ing in the water; they meet from the trUobite, a marine 
annual; it is alive, and is capable of re-producing its kind. 
The globules are every Avhere again in motion, and as 
they come together, form inumerable kinds of fishes, 
beasts, and birds. The globules are again congregating, 
and see ! they have formed the most beautiful figure of 
all; it is a Man; he is endowed with intellect, and seems 
superior to all other forms of life; all the previous remain- 
ing globules have congregated in his formation, and there 
seems nothing left. Look again, you will perceive some 



298 NEW THEORY OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 

very small globules left; they are mere molecules compared 
with the other globules, and appear mflnite in numbers; 
they do not seem to combine with any formed object, 
and yet they move every where, and pass through every 
thing. All objects being composed of round globules, 
must be porous, occasioned by the impossibility of round 
globules forming a perfectly solid mass. It is between 
these openings or pores that the last remaining globular 
moleules find a free passage through all objects in the 
Universe. In the unobstructed passage of these infinitely 
small globules, moving in infinite numbers, they produce 
such wonderful effects, that we will, for convenience, 
name them collectively, magnetic fluid. This fluid some- 
times collects in large masses in the atmosphere, which it 
displaces to occupy the space itself; though collected in 
large masses, it never coheres together, and being very 
elastic, it sometimes starts suddenly to another place, 
leaving a vacum where it comes from. This vacum being 
suddenly filled by the elastic atmosphere rushing to- 
gether, forms the phenomenon called thunder ; the rapid 
passage of the magnetic fluid through the atmosphere, 
produces a vivid light, called lightning^ by friction with the 
globules which form the atmosphere. 

Let us now trace the course of the magnetic fluid 
through the pores of objects on the earth. In passing 
through some objects, particularly iron, it frequently 
continues to keep up the stream, until stopped by a very 
simple process well known to man, and the iron through 
which the stream passes is called the magnet ; large beds 
of iron ore are found in the earth, having a stream of this 
fluid passing through it from South to North; the South- 
ern part of the bed of ore where the fluid enters, is called 
the South Pole, and the Northern end, where the fluid 
passes out, is called the North Pole. If you break from 
the mass a piece of this ore, it will have a stream passing 
through it with a South and North Pole ; this is called a 
natural magnetic fluid (first put in motion by the atmos- 
phere,) will gradually work through the metal, 
and in one or two years, form a permanent stream 
through the tongs, which all have a North and South 
Pole, and perform all the phenomena of the horse shoe 
magnet. Draw a natural magnet lenthwise over a bar of 
iron or steel, and you start a stream of the magnetic fluid 
through it; this bar, poised on a vertical pivot, forms the 
compass used by surveyors and mariners; it receives the 
fluid at the South, and discharges it at the North; hence 
it must follow, if the South Pole of one magnet h^ placed 
to the North Pole of another magnet, they will cling to- 



NEW THEORY OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 2:3 

gether, for the fluid in passing out of the North Pole of 
one, enters the South Pole of the other, and continues 
an unbroken streajn; that is called attraction in magnets; 
and hence, it also follows, that if two North Poles come 
together, they will fly off, because two streams come to- 
gether from opposite directions; that is called magnetic 
repulsion. The same fact will be seen, if you take two 
horse shoe magnets and bring them together the two 
North and the two South Poles, which will repel each 
other, and if one is suspended the other will fall; but if 
you turn one over so as to bring the north of one to the 
south of the other, they will adhere by the circular 
stream of magnetic fluid running through the whole ; 
hence it follows incontrovertibly, that as the magnetic 
fluid can pass through the pores of all substances, two 
magnets must continue to attract each other, even 
when other substances are placed between them; this 
is found to be invariably true, in all cases tried with 
the most dense substances, such as glass, wood, metals, 
water, stones, etc., and the magnets aKvays continue 
to attract the same as if nothing intervened. There 

IS ONE EXCEPTION ONLY TO THIS GENERAL LAW, 
CERIN,* AN ANIMAL FAT, (THE GLOSULETS OF WHICH ARE 
SO SOFT, THAT THEY MASH TOGETHER, AND CLOSE UP ALL 
THE PORES,) WHEN SPREAD ON PAPER AND HELD BE- 
TWEEN TV^O MAGNETS, CUTS OFF THE MAGNETIC STREAM 
AND RENDERS THE MAGNETS AS POWERLESS AS WOOD. If 

a streai'^ of magnet fluid can be caused to run through a 
bar Oj iro'^ b}^ drav/ing a natural magnet in one direction 
ovej. it i'- follows that the stream can be changed or stop- 
ped by drawing the natural magnet over it in an opposite 
direc^'on. This is also true in practice; and even a com- 
mon spike drawn hard over a magnet needle from the 
North to i-he Sou^h Pole, will deprive the needle of its 
magn tic pr perties, and destroy the compass, 

Th'- magn tic fluid pervades the pores of all substances 
and is generally inactive, or nearly so, until put in mo- 
tion by the firiction of some other globules striking 
against it. It ha^. a great affinity for animal hair, and a 
still great r for me 1; hence, a deer's tail whirled in the 
atmooDhere, collects the fluid, and the tail striking on a 
metaliv. i^.ate, communicates the fluid to the plate, from 
thence it may be conducted by a string to a stop cock, 



* This wonderful substance, Cerin, is like the "larnin" of Teddy 
O'Rourke, it must be " spi-ead thin and made to g-o a great ways," 
or else the fabric will explode, as it comes ia contact with the dull 
brain of a scieati&c *' numskull." 



300 NEW THEORY OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 

rom which hydrogen gas may issue and take fire by 
the fluid; such a lamp is used for instructive lectures 
at most colleges in the country. The fluid is collected 
by the same principle in the electric machine. The 
magnetic fluid pervades all substances, animate as well 
as inanimate, and produces singular effects in animals. 
A small portion of it conducted from an electric ma- 
chine into man, will prodnce drowsiness ; a very large 
portion of it will produce death, by forcing asunder 
the globules of which nian is composed ; the hairs on 
man are continually collecting small portions of the fluid 
from the atmosphere; woolen clothes also collect it, and 
comniunicate it to the system, from whence it again 
passes off to the atmosphere. A small portion of the 
fluid is always necessary to support life, by warming 
the blood with friction as it passes through the pores; 
sufficient for this purpose is collected from the carpet 
and earth by the feet, which forms the South Pole of an 
animal magnet; the eye by continually straining after ob- 
jects, causes the fluid to pass off at the retina, which 
forms the North Pole, (when awake,) of an animal mag- 
net; change and relaxation, ebb and flow, are essential to 
all things; the nerves, by fatigue with manual labor 
during ten or twenty hours, loose the power to draw the 
fluid up, and the eyes by fatigue with "looking," loose 
the power to throw off the magnetic fluid, which must 
now begin to ebb or run downwards, entering in at the 
eye, which now becomes the South Pole, and passes off 
at the feet, which in turn becomes the North Pole of the 
animal magnet; the eye being transparent, receives the 
fluid faster than it can pass off at the North Pole, (feet,) 
which surcharges the system and produces the natural 
sleep. In sleep there is a relaxation of the nervous sys- 
tem, and consequently the whole body is gradually in- 
vigorated, until the eye gains sufficient strength to open 
and change the magnetic current, receiving the fluid 
again at the feet, (South Pole,) and throw it off from the 
eye, (North Pole ;) this is called "natural waking." 

In the waking state, man is capable of forcing a more 
than natural magnetic stream from the eye; particularly 
if he desires to see or have the object towards which he 
directs the eye; this is called "will." Hence man is able 
to "will"a magnetic current from his eyes; the magnetic 
fluid can pass through the pores of all substaces, (except 
CERIN) and consequently the current thrown out by the 
"will" can be sent to another person's eye, which (if 
awake) will likewise be a north pole, and offer an opposing 
current; two currents meeting f««om opposite directions, 



NEW THEORY OF ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 301 

the weakest must be turned. Hence if a strongman "will" 
a magnetic current from his eye, (North Pole, ) it nmst 
turn the weak current from a woman's eye, which now 
becomes the South Fole^ receiving the magnetic current 
from the North Pole of a man. In nature, when the eye 
becomes the South Pole, the person is in natural sleep ; 
hence, when by the animal " will," the eye of a women 
becomes the South Pole, the woman is in a magnetic 
SLEEP, and can be a magnetic sonmambulist, the same 
as one in a natural sleep, can be a natural somnambulist. 

In the magnetic sleep, the magnetic fluid passes from 
the brain and eye (North Pole,) of the magnetizer to the 
eye (South Pole) and brain of the magnetic sonmambu- 
list ; the magnetic fluid is composed of globular 
molecules which touch each other, and form strings or 
magnetic cords from one brain to the other; hence, if the 
brain of the magnetizer be moved by a " sense of exter- 
nal things," the magnetic cords instantly conveys the 
same sympathetic move or " sense of external things" 
to the brain of the magnetic somnambulist. 

"A sense of external things" is knowledge^ hence, all 
knowledge possessed by the magnetiser is instantly pos- 
sessed by the magnetic somnambulist, who is, consequen- 
tly, capable of answering correctly any question which 
the magnetizer could answer himself. 

Diseases are obstructions in the pores of the body. The 
magnetic fluid carries off all obstructions in its passage 
through the pores of the system ; hence, all diseases are 
carred off from the system by the magnetic fluid, in its 
passage through the pores of the system. 

The magnetizer can force the fluid through all ob.ieets, 
(except cerin,) and consequently can force the fluid "by 
his will," in a curve through the brain of a third person, 
in its passage to the brain of the magnetic somnambulist; 
and consequently, the third person will be in magnelic com- 
munication with the magnetic sonmambulist, who will be 
able to answer correctly, ah questions which the person 
in magnetic communication could answer himself. 



302 PEOCESS USED IN INDIA. 

Process used in India to Produce 
Magnetic Sleep. 

Having ascertained from my first case that coma might 
be induced with the patient's eyes closed, and feeling the 
necessity of an easy attitude for both operator and pa- 
tient where an hour's labor was given, I mesmerised my 
next patient lying in bed, with his eyes closed, and in a 
darkened room. If the open eye were not necessary, I 
concluded that it would probably be a source of distrac- 
tion; and the sitting posture was also objectionable for 
the same reason, as a person instinctively resists going to 
^sleep in the erect posture. My second patient was ac- 
cordingly mesmerised lying in bed, with his eyes closed, 
and the room darkened. This succeeded perfectly, 
and, from its convenience, was the routine followed ever 
afterwards without exception. 

The patient was desired to lie down and compose him- 
self to sleep ; his head was brought to one end of the bed 
and the mesmeriser seated himself so as to be able to 
* breathe upon the head and extend his hands readily to 
the pit of the stomach. 

We then began making passes from the back of the 
head down to the pit of the stomach, breathiug gently 
on the head and eyes also. The fingers were held loosly 
in the shape of claws, and carried slowly over the parts 
at the distance of an inch from the surface, dwelling 
longer over the eyes, nose, mouth, and sides of the neck ; 
and, on reaching the pit of the stomach, the hands were 
suspended there some minutes. 

Having continued this process for a quarter or half an 
hour, the passes may be advantageously ended by press- 
mg both hands for some minutes on the pit of the sto- 
mach. This done for an hour daily was the routine 
which enabled me to perform so many mesmeric opera- 
tions, and often on the first day of treatment. The lads 
varied this routine, however, to suit their convenience. 
One preferred to place both hands on the pit of the sto- 
mach from the beginning to the end of the process, 
breathing on the eyes and head all the time. Another 
placed one hand on the pit of the stomach at the begin- 
ning, and made passes slowly over the face with the other, 
changing hands when tired. A third would make his 
passes from the stomach upwards to the head: and they 
seemed to me to succeed all equally well— provided they at- 
tended to their work. 



PROCESS USED IN INDIA. ^03 

A moderate degree of continued attention is indispensa- 
ble. Otherwise the passes are mere mechanical move- 
ments without vitality, and the lads knew from experience 
that if they did not work with a will, they were losing 
their time. 

It is better not to test the patient's condition at first 
by speaking to him, but by gently raising his arm; and,if 
it fall helplessly down without subsequent movement, or 
is found cataleptic when bent, or rigid on attempting to 
bend it, we may consider the mesmeric sleep to be 
established. When the patient is insensible to the loudest 
sounds, to pricking of the navel, and pinching of the nip- 
ple the operation may be performed. But the muscular ir- 
ritabihty cannot be extinguished in some persons; they 
show signs of irritation on being pricked, pinched, and 
burned still if protracted testing does not awake them 
the operation may be confidently performed, as the signs 
of sensibility are usually not increased during it, and the 
case is as successful for all practical purposes as when the 
patient lies like a corpse. 

The more delicate European process may be resorted to 
when required, and is performed in this manner. 

The patient is seated in a comfortable chair for sleep- 
ing in. The mesmeriser seats himself in front with the 
patient's knees between his, and, laying hold of both 
hands, opposing the thumbs to each other, he concen- 
trates his attention upon the patient, and desires him to 
look steadily at the operator. He having held his hands 
till there is an equihbrium of heat estabUshed, passes are 
made slowly from the forehead dov/n to the pit of the 
stomach, and from, the crown of the head down both 
sides of the neck, and along both arms to the fingers. 
The eye shows very satisfactorily the progress made. 
When'it begins to follow the mesmerizer's hand involun- 
tarily, and a peculiar tremor of the eyelids, or a pro- 
longed heavy wink, is observed, it is very encouraging, 
and ought to induce the mesmerizer to increase his 
attention. The eye at last closes, but the eye-lashes 
generally continue to quiver as if from an instinctive 
attempt to open the eye. This the patient cannot now 
do, even though he may still retain his general sensibility 
and consciousness. The process being continued, or 
repeated, at last brings on the mesmeric coma wliich 
being tested the operation is performed. 

But this process seems to induce a state of artificial 
somnambulism in the European muvih more frequently 
than in the Asiatic; and possibl}^ the difference of the 
routine followed may partly account for this. Our object 



304 PROCESS USED IN INDIA. 

was to knock the patient down as fast as possible, and to 
keep him from rallying from, or even feeling, the first 
impression made on the system; and this appears to be 
more effectuaily done by the more intimate and contin- 
ued contact of the two bodies. My patients seemed to 
escape the first stimulating effects of Mesmerism (the 
somnambulistic stage), and to plunge at once into the 
coma. But painless operations may be as satisfactorily 
performed in somnambulism as in mesmerism. 

In the treatment of chronic diseases suited for 
Mesmerism, coma is not often required. If it occur, it is 
probably because nature needs it. But we ought to be 
satisfied with the improvement of the patient, though it 
be unaccompanied by any striking phenomena. The sys- 
tem is often recruited, not the less effectually because sil- 
ently- -just as the best digestion is least felt. 

For refreshing the nervous system and procuring sleep, 
mesmerising a longs courants, as the French call it, will 
usually be found sufficient. This consists in steady con- 
tinuous tractions, with the points of the spread fuigers, 
from head to foot; the head may be breathed upon also. 
and the hand allowed to rest for a, few minutes at the pit 
of the stomach, en passant. Half an hour, or an hour of 
of tliis, will often soothe restlessness, bring back natural 
sleep, and invigorate the nervous system. 

LocAii MESMERisiNa is often very useful in removing 
pain (especially if the system has been previously affect- 
by Mesmerism), and a few minutes of local passes, with 
or without contact, combined with breathing on the part, 
will sometimes prove tiie speediest anodyne for local 
pains. 

The DEMESMERisiisra Processes.— The means used 
for dissipating the mesmeric influence are precisely those 
employed for rousing the brain in fainting or natural in- 
sensibility. Although volition and consciousness are sus- 
pended in natural syncope and mesmeric coma, the invol- 
untary part of the nervous system still retains sensi- 
bility to organic stimulants. Cold air and friction are 
the natural stimulants to the nerves of the skin, and are 
the most likely means used to restore their sensibility, 
when it is diminished. The respiratory nerves of the 
face and chest are more particularly sensitive to the im- 
pression of cold air and friction; and these natural agents 
are the popular and most successful remedies in restoring 
persons to their senses who have fainted. This result 
arises, I presume, from the organic irritation of the 
nerves of the skin being propagated to the brain, there- 
by arousing it again to activity and re-establishing the 



PROCESS USED IN INDIA. 305 

interrupted sympathy between the voluntary and in- 
voluntary parts of the nervous system. 

The equilibrium of the nervous circulation is equally 
deranged in the mesmeric condition. But organic life 
seems to be exalted at the expense of the life of voli- 
tion, and the nerves of the surface are often preterna- 
turally sensitive to organic stimuli; so much so, that 
blowing in the face of a mesmeric sleeper will often 
cause a shock that rouses the brain into activity in a 
moment, and the person instantaneously recovers his 
senses. How this happens I cannot imagine, unless it 
be by driving the nervous currents back to the surface 
that had been concentrated upon and had oppressed the 
brain. 

Blowing sharply in the eyes, rubbing the eyelids and 
eyebrows, rapid reverse or transverse passes, sprinkling 
cold water on the face and chest, or exposing the sur- 
face of the body to a cold current of air, are the usual 
methods employed for demesmerising the brain; and 
when locally applied are equally efficacious in demes- 
merising cataleptic or rigid limbs. 

But it sometimes happens that all these means fail to 
awake the sleeper, and I know nothing for it but to 
leave him alone and let him sleep it out, which is 
always done without any bad consequences that I ever 
observed. 

The smallness of the cause, and the greatness of the 
result, when we restore a person in a moment to the 
full possession of his senses and intellect by blowing in 
his eyes or sprinkling cold water on his face when in 
the mesmeric coma, are quite as remarkable in natural 
fainting, in which the effects from the same causes are 
equally striking and instantaneous, although the two 
conditions can have nothing in common in their origin. 



306 



THE ART OF MIND READING. 



W« ire indebted to that valuable and interesting magazine 
the " Popular Science Monthlj^^," tor the following explanation 
of thv» pLenomenon of mind reading. It was written by a 
physician of high standing (George M. Beard, M. D.) who has 
given much attention to this and kindred subjects. 

In the history of science and notably in the history of phy- 
siology and medicine, it has often happened that the ignorant 
and obscuie have stumbled upon facts and phenomena which, 
though wrongly interpreted by the mselves, yet, when investi- 
gated and explained, have proved to be of the highest interest. 
The phenomena of the emotional trance, for example, had been 
Imown tor ages, but rot until Mesmer forced them on the 
scientific world, by his. public exhibitions and his ill-founded 
theory of animal magnetism, did they receive any serious and 
intelligent study. Similarly the general fact that mind may so 
(ict on body as to produce involuntary and unconscious muscu- 
lar motion was by no means unrecognized by physiolo- 
gists, and yet not until the "mind-reading" excitement 
was it demonstrated that this principle could be utilized 
for the finding of any object or limited locality on which a sub- 
ject, with whom an ojperator is in physical connection, concen- 
trates his mind. 

Although, as I have since ascertained, experiments of this 
kind had been previously performed in a quiet, limited way in 
private circles, and mo&tiy by ladies, yet very few had heard 
of or witnessed them ; they were associated in the popular 
mind very naturally with " mesmerism ;" or " animal magnet- 
ism," and by some were called *' mesmeric games." The phy- 
siological explanation had naver been even suggested ; hence 
the first public exhibitions of Brown, with his brilliantly suc- 
cessful demonstrations of his skill in this direction, were a new 
revelation to physiologists as well as to the scientific world in 
general. 

The method of mind-reading, introduced by Brown, which 
is but one of many methods that have been or may be used, is 
as follows : 

The operator, usually blind-foirded, firmly applies the back 



THE ART OF MIND EEADING. 307 

of the band of the subject to be operated on against his owB 
forehead, and with his other hand presses lightly upon the 
palm and fingers of the subject's hand. In this position he 
can detect, if sufficientlj' expert, the slightest movement, im- 
pulse, tremor, tension, or relaxation, in the arm of the subject. 
He then requests the subject to concentrate his mind on some 
locality in the room, or on some hidden object, or on some one 
oi the letters of the alphabet suspended along the wall. The 
operator, blindfolded, marches sometimes very rapidly "with 
the subject up and down the room or rooms, up and down 
stairways, or out-of-doors through the streets, and, when he 
comes near the locality on which the subject is concentrating 
his mind, a slight impulse or movement is communicated to 
his hand by the hand of the subject. 

This impulse is both involuntary and unconscious on the 
part of the subject. He is not aware, and is unwilling, at first, 
to believe, that he gives any such impulse ; and yet it is suffi- 
cient to indicate to the expert and practised operator that he 
has arrived near the hidden object, and then, by a close study 
and careful trials in cMfferent directions, upward, downward, 
and at various points of the compass, he ascertains precisely 
the localit5% and is, in many cases, as confident as though he 
had received verbal communication from the subject. 

Even though the article on which the subject concentrates 
his mind be very small, it can quite frequently be ])icked out 
from a large number, provided the subject be a good one, and 
the operator sufficiently skillful. The article is sometimes 
found at once, with scarcely any searching, the operator going 
to it directly, without hesitation, and with a c^^lerity and pre- 
cision that, at first sight, and until the physiological explana- 
tion is understood, justly astonish even the most thoughtful 
and skeptical. (In New Haven I saw Brown, before a large 
audience, mai'ch ofi rapidly through the aisle and find at once 
the person on whom the subject was concentrating his mind, I 
although there was the privilege of selecting any one out of a 
thousand or more present.) These experiments, it should be 
added, are performed in public or private, and on subjects of 
unquestioned integrity, in the presence of experts, and under 
a combination of circumstances and conditions for the elimina- 
tion of sources of error that mak it necessary to rule out at' 
once the possibility of collusion. 

The alternative is, therefore, between the actual transfer of 
thought from subject to operator, as has been claimed, and the 
theory of unconscious muscular motion and relaxation on the 
part of the subject, the truth of which I have demonstrated by 
numerous experiments. 



308 THE AET OF MIND READING. , 

On? of the gentlemen with whom I have experimented, Judge 
Blydenberg, who begun to test his ])owers directly after I lirst 
called public attention to the subject in New Haven, claims to 
Biicceed, even with the most intellectual persons, provided 
they fully comply with the conditions, and honestly and per- 
sistently concentrate their minds. One fact of interest, with 
ree; .rd to his experiments, is the exceeding minuteness of the 
objects that he tinds. A large number of the audience empty 
their pockets on the table, until it is covered with a medley of 
keys, knives, trinkets, and miscellaneous small objects. Out 
of them the subject selects a small seed a little larger than a 
pea, and even this the operator, after some searching, hits 
precisely. 

One may take n large 1 unch of keys, throw them on ihe 
table, and he picks out the very one on which the subject con- 
centrates his mind. 

Another fact of interest in his experiments is that, if a sub- 
ject thinks over a number of articles in different parts of the 
room, and, after some doubt and hesitation, finally selects some 
one, the operator will lead him, sometimes successively, to the 
different obj-ects on which Le has thought, and will wind up 
with the one that he finally selected- He also performs what 
is known as the " double test," which consists in taking the 
hand of a third party, who knows nothing of the hidden ob- 
ject, but who is connected with another party ^^ ho does know, 
and who concentrates his mind upon it. The connection of 
these two persons is made at the wrist, and the motion is com- 
municated fiom one to the other through the arms and hands. 
The " double test "has been regarded by some as an argument 
agaiast the theory that this form of nn'nd-reading was simply 
the utilizing of unconscious muscular motion on the part of 
the persons operated upon. 

This gentleman represents that the sensation of muscular 
thrill is very slight indeed, even with good subjects; and, in 
order to detect it, he directs his own mind as closely as pos- 
sible to the hand of the subject. 

In all these experiments, with all mind-readers, the require- 
ment for the subject to concentrate the mind on the locality 
agreed upon is absolute ; if that condition is not fulfilled, 
nothing can be done, for the very excellent reason that, with- 
out such mental concentration, there will be no unconscious 
muscular tension or relaxation to guide the operator. 

Experiments of the following kind I have made repeatedly 
with the above-named gentlemen : 

A dozen or more pins may be stuck about one inch or half 
an inch apart into the edge of a table ; I concentrate my mind 



THE AET OF MIND READING. J^09 

on any one of these pins, telling no one. The operator enters 
tbe room, gets the general direction of the object in the usual 
way, and, when he has come near to the row of pins, he will 
limit the physical connection to one of his index-fingers, j^res- 
sing firmly against one of mine, and m this way he soon finds 
the head of the pin on which my mind has been concentrated. 
The only limitation of area in the locality that can be founc 
by a good mind-reader with a ^ood subject is, that two objects 
should not be so near to each other that the finger of the oper- 
ator strikes on both at once ; 

When I began the study of this subject, I supposed, even 
after the true theory of the matter had become clear to me, 
that very small objects and narrow areas could not be found in 
this way. Subsequent experiments showed that this suppo- 
sition was erroneous. In a wide hall, in the presence of alarge 
audience, where the subject had the right to think of any ob- 
ject he chose Brown once found, after considerable search- 
ing, so limited an area as a capitrl letter in the title of a news- 
paper pinned up on the wall and barely -within reach. About 
an hour after, in the same place, he found a very small vial out 
of quite a large number ranged in a row. Although reasoning 
deductively from the known relations of mind to body, I had 
established conclusively to my own mind that the so-called 
mind-reading was really muscle-reading, yet I could not be- 
lieve, until the above-named experiments had been made, and 
frequently repeated, that it was possible for even the most ex- 
pert operator to fi.nd such small objects ; and no physiologist, 
I am sure, would have believed such precision in these exper- 
iments conceivable until his general deductions had been 
many times verified, and supplemented by observations in 
which every source of error was guarded against. 

As already remarked, there are a variety of ways of making 
the physical connection between subject and operator. A lady 
may go out of the room, and while she is absent an object is 
hidden. She returns, and two ladies, who know where the 
object is, stand up beside her in the middle of tbe room and 
place both of their hands upon her body, one hand in front, 
the other behind ; all three stand there for a moment, the two 
subjects who know where the object is, keeping their minds 
intensely concentrated on that locality. In a moment or so 
this lady who is to find the object moves off in the direction 
where it is, the other ladies with her still keeping their hands 
upon her, and in nearly all cases she finds it. This is accom- 
plished Lythe unconscious muscular tension of the two ladies 
who know where the object is, acting upon the person of the 
lady who is seeking it. 



310 THE ^V'/ OF MIND BEADING. 

This experiment I hAv^ repeated with a mynber of amateur 
performers, and in all cases with pretty uniform success. 
This method is easier, both to learn and to practice, than some 
of the others ; it is also far less artistic, and is not at all adapt- 
ed for the finding of very small localities. It illustrates, how- 
ever, the general principle of mind acting on body producing 
muscular tension in the direction of that locality on which the 
thoughts are concentrated. 

The relaxation, when the locality or its neighborhood is 
reached, is not so distinctly appreciated in this method of ex- 
perimenting, which is Fufficient, however, to enable the opera- 
tor to get the right direction and to proceed until the corner 
or side of the room is reached; then, by a combination of 
manipulation and giiess-work, she will, after a few trials, get 
hold of the precise object hidden, or locality thought of. 
When the operator and subject are connected by the methods 
practised by Brown, it is possible to detect also the relaxation 
when the locality is reached, and, guided by this, the master 
in the art knows just when and where to stop and, in very 
many cases, feels absolutely sure that he is right, and with a 
good subject is no more liable to error than he would be to 
hear wrongly or imperfectly if directed by word of mouth. 

The special methods of muscle-reading here described may 
be varied almost indefinitely, the only essential condition 
being, that the connection between the subject or subjects is 
of such a nature as to easily allow the sense of muscular ten- 
sion or relaxation to be communicated. Instead of two sub- 
jects, there may be three, four, or half a dozen, or but one. 
With a number of subjects the chances of success are greater 
than with one, for the two-fold reason that the united muscu^ 
lar tension of all will be more readily felt than that of but one, 
and because any single subject may be a bad one— that is, one 
who is capable of muscular controi — while among a number 
there will be very likely one or more good ones. For these two 
reasons, amateurs succeed in this latter method when they fail 
or succeed but imperfectly after the method of Brown. 

A method frequently used, although it is not very artistic, 
consists in simply taking the hand of the object and leading 
him directly, or, as is more likely to be the case, indirectly to 
the locality on which his mind is concentrated. 

J. Stanley Grimes thus describes the performance of a mind- 
reader in Chicago : "I repeatedly witnessed similar perform- 
ances with different experts in this branch and under circum- 
stances where every element of error from intentional or unin- 
tentional collusion was rigidly excluded. At the request of the 
company the same young lady was again sent from the room 



THE AUT OF MIND BEADING. 311 

&n(\ blindfolded, as on previous occasions. The gentleman 
requested tbe company to Riiggebt anytbin<^ they desired the 
subject shoukl be willed to do, thus removing any possibility 
of a secret agreement to deceive betM^een the parties. It was 
sug'^ested tliat the young lady should be 1,'rought into the 
room and placed in a position with her face toward the north ; 
that the gentleman shoiild then place his lingers upon her 
shoulder as before ; that she should turn immediately to the 
right facing the south and proceed to a certain figure in the 
parlor-carpet ; then turning to the west, she was to approach 
a sofa in a remote corner of the room, from which she should 
remove a small tidy, which she should take to the opposite 
side of the room, and place it upon the head of a certain 
young gentleman in the company ; she was then to proceed to 
the extreme end of the parlor, and take a coin from the right 
vest pocket of a gentleman, and return to the opposite side of 
the room, and place the coin in the left vest pocket of another 
gentleman named ; she was then to remove the tidy from the 
head of the gentleman ujDon whom it had been placed, and 
return it to the iete-a-ieie where she originally found it. 

" I must confess to no little surprise when I saw the young 
lady perform with the most perfect precision every minute de- 
tail as above described, and with the most surprising alacrity; 
in fact so quick were her motions that it was with the greatest 
difficulty that the gentleman could keep pace with the young 
lady's movements. " 

I have seen a performer — who though one of the pioneers in 
this art is far less skillful than many with whom I have exper- 
imented—take a hat from the head of a gentleman in a small 
private circle, and carry it across the room and put it on the 
head of another gentleman ; take a book or any other object 
from one person to another ; or go in succession to different 
pictures hanging on the w^all and i^erform other feats of a sim- 
ilar character, while simply taking hold of the wa-ist of the sub- 
ject. In the experiment described by Mr. Grimes the subject 
placed three fingers of his right hand on the shoulder of the 
ope^-ator. Note the fact that in all these experiments direction 
and .ocality are all that the mind-reader finds ; the quality of 
the object found or indeed whether it be a movable object at 
all or merely a limited locality as a figure in the carpet or on 
the wall, is not known to the mind-reader until he picks it up 
or handles it ; then if it be a small object as a hat, a book, or 
coin, or tidy, he very naturally takes it and moves off with it 
in the direction indicated by the unconscious muscular ten- 
sion of the subject, and leaves it where he is ordered by un- 
lonscions muscular reiasation. In the great excitement that 



312 THE AET OF MIND READING. 

attends these novel and most remarkable experiments the en- 
tranced audience fail to notice that the operator really finds 
nothing but direction and locality. 

I have said that various errors of inference, as well as of ob- 
(Servation, have been associated with these experiments. A 
young lady who had been quite successful as an amateur in 
'-,bis art was subjected by me to a critical analysis of her' 
\')owers before a large private audience. She supposed that it 
was necessary for all the persons in the audience to concentr?.te 
their minds on the subject as well as those whose hands were 
upon her. I proved by some decisive experiments, in which 
a comparison was made with what could be done by chance 
alone, that this was not necessary and that the silent, unex- 
pressed will of the audience had no effect on the operator, save 
certain nervous sensations created by the emotion of expect- 
ancy. Similarly I proved that when connected with the sub- 
jects by a wire, she could find nothing, although she exper- 
ienced various subjective sensations, which she attributed to 
" magnetism," but which were familiar results of mind acting 
on body. 

Another lady, who is quite successful in these experiments, 
thought it was necessary to hide keys, and supposed that 
" magnetism " had something to do with it. I tcld her that 
that was not probable, and tried another object, and found 
that it made no difference what the object was. She supposed 
that it was necessary that the object should be secreted on 
some person. I found that this was not necessary. She does 
not always succeed in finding the exact locality at once, but in 
some cases she goes directly to it ; she very rarely fails. 

In order to settle the question beyond dispute whether un- 
conscious muscular action was the sole cause of this success in 
finding objects, I made the following crucial experiments with 
this lady : Ten letters of the alphabet were placed on a piano, 
the letters being written on large pieces of paper. I directed 
her to see how many times she would get a letter which was 
in the mind of one of the observers in the room correctly by 
chance purely, without any physical touch. She tried ten 
times and got it right twice. I then had her try ten experi- 
ments with the hand of the person operated on against the 
forehead of the operator, the hand of the operator ligntly 
touching against the fingers of this hand, and the person op- 
erated on concentrating her mind all the while on the object, 
and looking at it. In ten experiments tried this day, with the 
same letters, she was successful six times. I then tried the 
same number of experiments with a wire, one end being at- 
tached to the head or hand of the subject, and the other end 



THE ART OF MIND READING. 313 

to the head or hand of the operator. The wire was about ten 
feet long and was so arranged -being made fast at the middle 
to a chair— that no nuconscious muscular motion could bo 
communicated through it from the person on whom she was 
operating. She was successful but once out of ten times. 
Thus we see that by pure chance she was successful twice 
out of ten times ; by utilizing unconscious muscular action 
in the method of Brown she was successful six times outoften. 
When connected by a wire she was less successful than when 
she depended on pure chance without any physical connec- 
tion. In order still further to contirm this, I suggested to this 
lady to find objects with two persons touching her body in the 
manner we have above described. I told these two to deceive 
her, concentrating tlieir minds on the object hidden, at the 
same time using conscious motion toward some other part of 
the room. These experiments several times repeated, showed 
that it was possible to deceive her, just as we had found it pos- 
sible to deceive other muscle-readers. 

The question whether it is possible for one to be a good 
muscle-reader and pretty uniformly successful, and yet not 
know just how the trick is done, must be answered in the af- 
firmative. It is possible to become quite an adept in this art 
without suspecting even remotely the physiological explana- 
tion. The muscular tension necessary to guide the operator 
is but slight, and the senoation it produces may be very easily 
referred by credulous, uninformed operators to the passage 
of " magnetism ;" and I am sure that with a number of oper- 
ators on whom I have experimented this mistake is made. 
Some operators declare that they cannot tell how they find the 
locality, that their success is to them a mystery ; these 
declarations are made by private, amateur performers, who 
have no motive to deceive me, and whose whole conduct 
during the experiments confirms their statements. Other 
operators speak of thrills or vibrations which they feel, auras 
and all sorts of indefinable sensations. These manifold 
symptoms are purely subjective, the result of mind acting 
on the body, the emotions of wonder and expectancy devel- 
oping various phenomena that are attributed to " animal mag- 
netism," "mesmerism" or " electricity "—in short, to every- 
thing but the real cause. I have seen amateurs who de- 
clared that they experienced these sensations when trying 
without success to read mind through the wires, or per- 
haps without any connection with the subject whatever. 
Persons who are in the vicinity of galvanic batteries, even 
though not in the circuit, very often report similar exper- 
iences. 



314 fTHE AET OF MIND READING. 

The facts whicli sustain the theory that the so-called mind- 
reading is really muscle-reading — that is, unconscious muscu- 
lar tension asnd relaxation on the part of the subject — may be 
thus summarized : 

1. Mind-readers are only able to find direction and locality, 
and in oider to find even these, they must be in physical con- 
nection with the subject, who must move his body or some 
portion of it— as the fingers, hand or arm. If the subject sits 
perfectly still, and keeps his fingers, hand and arm perfectly 
quiet, so far as it is possible for him to do so by conscious ef- 
fort, the mind-reader can never find even the locality on which 
the subject's mind is concentrated ; be can only find the direc- 
tion where the locality is. Mind-readers never tell what an 
object is nor can they describe its color or appearance ; locality 
and nothing more definite than locality is all they find. The 
object hidden may be a coin or a corn-cob, a x>in or a pen-hol- 
der, an elephant's tusk or a diamond pin— it is all the same. 
Again, where connect ior of the operator with this subject is 
made by a wire, so arranged that mass-motion cannot be com- 
municated and the subject concentrates his mind ever so 
steadily, the operator does just what he would do by pure 
chance and no more. Tbis I have proved repeatedly with good 
subjects and expert performers. 

2. The subject can successfully deceive the operator in 
various ways — first of all, by using muscular tension in the 
wrong direction, and muscular relaxation at the wrong locality 
while at the same time the mind is concentrated in the right 
direction. To deceive a good operator in this way is not al- 
ways eas3^ but after some practice the art can be acquired, and 
it is a perfectly fair test in all experiments of this nature. 

Yet another way to deceive the mind-reader is, to think of 
some object or locality at a great distance from the room in 
which the experiments are made, and if there be no ready 
means of exit, the performer will be entirely baffled. I am 
aware that some very surprising feats have been done in the 
way of finding distant out-of-door localities by muscle-readers 
but in these cases there has usually been an implied under- 
standing that the search was to be extended to out-of-doors ; 
muscle-readers have thus taken their subject up and down 
stairs or from one room or hall into another, and out-of-doors 
until the house or locality was reached. 

In Danielsonviile, Connecticut, Brown after an evening's ex- 
hibition in v/hich his failures had been greater than usu.al (the 
intelligent committee having the matter in charge being pre- 
pared by previous discussion of the theory of unconscious 
muscular motion), took a subject and led him from the hotel 



THE AET OF MIND EEADING- 315 

ia the darkness tbrongli tlie streets, to some rathev ont-of-the 
way building on which the subject had fixed his mind. A 
somewhat similar exploit is recorded of Core}', a performer in 
Detroit. 

Another way in which deception may be practise 1 is for the 
subject to select some object or locality on the pei'son of the 
muscle-reader. This object may be a watch, or a prcket-book, 
or a pencil-case, or any limited region ol his clothin,?, as a but- 
ton, a cravat, or wristband. If such a selection be Hade, and 
the method of physical connection above described be used, 
the experiment will be a failure, provided the muf cle-reader 
does not know or suspect than an object on his oM'n person, is 
to be chosen. Similarly if the subject selects a loca/i:>y on his 
own person, as one of the fingers or finger-nails of the hand 
that connects with the muscle-reader. When such tests are 
used, there is not, so to speak, any leverage for the t^insion of 
the arm toward the locality on which the mind is copcentrated 
and the muscle-reader eitlier gets no clew, or else one that 
misleads him. 

3. When a subject who has good control over his montal and 
muscular movements keeps the arm connected with the oper- 
ator perfectly stiff, even though his mind be well concentrated 
on the hidden object, the operator cannot find either the dir- 
ection or the locality. This is a test which those who have the 
requisite physical qualifications can sometimes fulfill without 
difiaculty. 

Here I may remark that the requirement to concentrate the 
mind on the locality and direction sought for all the time the 
search is being made is one that few if any can perfectly fulfill. 
Any number of distracting thoughts will go through the best- 
trained mind of one who, in company with a blindfolded op- 
erator, is being led furiously up and down aisles, halls, streets 
and stairways, fearful each moment of stumbling or striking 
his head, and followed it may be, by astonished and eager in- 
vestigiitors. And yet these mental distractions do not seem to 
interfere with the success of the experiment unless the aim is 
kept studiouslj'- rigid, in which case nothing is found save by 
pure chance. The best subjects would appear to be those who 
have moderate power of mental concentration and slight con- 
trol over their muscular movements. Credulous wonder-loving 
subjects are sometimes partially entranced through the amo- 
tions of reverence and expectation ; with subjects in thisDtate 
operators are quite sure of success. 

4. The uncertainty and capriciousness of these experiments, 
even with expert operators, harmonize with the explanation 
here giyeiL Even with good subjects all mind-readers do not 



316 



THE ABT or MIND HEADING. 



aniformly succeed ; there is bnt little certainty or precision to 
tbe average results of experiments, however skillluily perform- 
ed. An evening's exhibition may be a series of successes or a 
series of failures according to the character of the subjects; 
and even in the successful tests the operator usually must try 
various directions and many localities sometimes for ten or 
fifteen minutes before he finds the locality sought for ; cases 
where the operator goes at once in the right direction, stops at 
the right locality, and knows when he has reached it, excep- 
tional. 

5. Many of those who became expert in this art are aware 
that they succeed by detecting slight muscular tension and re- 
laxation on the part of the subject. 

Some operators have studied the subject Bcie.utificaTly, and 
are able to analyze with considerable precision the different 
steps in the process. In the minds of many this fact alone is 
evidence adequate to settle the question beyond doubt. 

6. A theoretical and explanatory argument is derived froro 
the recent discovery of motor centers in the cortex of the 
brain. 

I was repeating the experiments of Fritsch and Hitzig at the 
time when my attention was first directed to the remarkable 
exhibitions of Brown, and the results of my studies in the 
electrical irritation of the brains of dogs and rabbits suggested 
to me the true explanation of mind-reading before any oppor- 
tunity had been allowed for satisfactory experiments. 

The motto '* when we think, we move," which I have some- 
times used to illustrate the close and constant connection of 
mind and body, seems to be justified by these experiments on 
the brain, and may assist those who wish to obtain a con- 
densed statement of the physiology of mind-reading. Taking 
into full consideration the fact that all physiologists are not in 
full accord as to the interpretation to be given to these experi- 
ments, whether for example, the phenomena are due to direct 
or reflex action, still it must be allowed by all who study this 
subject experimentally, that thought-centers and muscle-cen- 
ters are near neighbors, if not identical. 

The popular theory to account for these failures is the weari- 
ness or exhaustion of the operator ; but both in New York and 
in New Haven it was observed that Brown met with his mosfe 
brilliant successes in the latter }:art of the evening, the reason 
being that he happened then to have better subjects. 

From an editorial in the " Boston Medical and Surgical 
Journal," (September 23, 1875,) referring to the mind-reading 
exhibitions, and acceptinpf the ex]ilanation here given, I make 
the following extract : "The whole performance seems to us 



THE AET OF MIND EEADINQ. 317 

to furnish good illustrations of one or two weU-knowJl prin- 
ciples of great physiological interest. Of these the most im- 
portant is one that finds at once support and application in the 
modern doctrine of the natin-e of aphasia and kiudred disor- 
ders ; namely, that the th^^^ght, the conscious mental concep- 
tion of an act differs from the voluntary impulse necessary to 
the performance of that act only in that it corresponds to a 
fainter excitation of nervous centers in the cortex cerebri which 
•in both cases are anatomically identical. Thus in certain forms 
of aphasia, the power to think in words is lost at the same time 
with the power of speech. Some persons think definitely only 
when they think aloud, and it "would readily be believed in 
the case of children and uneducated persons that the ability 
to read would often be seriously interfered with if they were 
not permitted to read aloud. Similarly a half-premeditated 
act of any kind slips often into performance before its author 
is aware of the fact. Further, there is reason to think, from 
the experiments of Hitzig, that these same centers may be ex- 
cited by the stimulus of electricity so as to call out some of 
the simpler co ordinated movements of the muscles on the 
opposite side of the body. Applying now, this principle to 
the case in hand, it will be evident that for the person exper- 
imented with to avoid giving 'muscular hints,* of either a 
positive or negative kind, would be nearly impossible." 

In all these experiments it should be observed there is no 
one muscle, there is no single group of muscles, through 
which this tension and relaxation are developed ; it is the 
finger, the hand, the arm, or the whole body, according to 
the method employed. Among the various methods of ma- 
ki^ connection between the subject and operator, are the 
following : 

1. The back of the subject's hand is held firmly against the 
forehead of the operator, who, with his other hand, lightly 
touches the fingers ot the subject's hand. 

This is, undoubtedly, the mostartistic of all known methods. 

2. The hand of the operator loosely grasps the wrist of the 
subject. 

This is a very inartistic method, and yet great success is of- 
tentimes attained by it. 

3. Oue finger of the operator is applied to one finger of 
the subject, papillae touching papillae. 

This is a modification of the first method ; by it exceedingly 
small objects or localities are found. 

4 The operator is connected in the usual way with a third 
party who does not know the locality thought of by the subject, 
but IS connected with the subject by the wrist (" double test.") 



318 



THE AliT OF MIND BEADING. 



In this experiment, which astounded even the best obser- 
vers, the unconscious muscular motion was communicated 
from the subject to the arm of the third party, and through 
the arm of the third party to the operator. 

5. Two, three or more subjects, who agree on the locality to 
be thought of, apply their hands to the body of the operator in 
front and behind. 

This method is excellent for beginners, and the direction is 
easily found by it ; but it is obviously not adapted for the 
speedy finding of small objects ; it is frequently used by 
ladie'^. 

6. The hand of the subject lightly rests on the shoulder of 
the operator. 

In all these methods the operator is usually blindfolded, so 
that he maj'- get no assistance from any other source than the 
unconscious muscular action of the subject. 

The movements of the operator in these experiments may be 
either very slow, cautious, and deliberate, or rapid and reck- 
less. Brown in his public exhibitions, was very careful about 
getting the physical connection right, and then moved off very 
rapidly, sometimes in the right direction, sometimes in the 
wrong one, but frequently with such speed as to inconvenience 
the subject on whom he was operating. These rapid move^ 
ments give greater brilliancy to public experiments and serve 
to entrance the subject, and thus to render him far more like- 
ly to be unconscious of his own muscular tension and relaxa- 
tion through which the operator is guided. 

Ihe power of muscle-reading depends mainly, if not entire- 
ly, on some phase of the sense of touch. Dr. Hanbury Smitk 
tells me that a certain maker of lancets in London, had a«- 
q-uired great reputation for the superiority of his workman- 
ship. Suddenly there was a falling off in the character of the 
instrument that he sent out, and it was found that his wife, 
on whom he had depended to test the sharpness of the edge on 
her finger or thumb, had recently died. 

That the blind acquire great delicacy of touch has long been 
known ; Laura Bridgman is a familiar illustration. Dr. Car- 
penter states (although there are always elements of error 
tlirough the unconscious assistance of other senses in cases of 
this kind) that Miss Bridgman recognized his brother, whom 
ehe had not met for a year, by the touch of the hand alone. 

Every physician recognizes the fact of this difference of sus- 
ceptibility to touch ; and in the diagnosis of certain conditions 
of disease, much depends on the tacius eruditus. I am not sure 
whether this delicacy of perception, by which muscle-reading 
is accomplished, is the ordinary sense of touch, that of coo> 



TSE AUT OF MIND REaDIKO. 3l9 

tact, or of some of the special modifications of this sense. It 
is to physiologists and students of diseases of the nervous 
system a well-known fact that there are several varietiesof sen- 
sibility— to touch, to temperature, to pressure or weight, and 
to pain— which, possibly, represent different rates or modes of 
vibration of the nerve-force. 

The proportion of persons who can succeed in muscle-read- 
ing, by the methods here described, is likewise a natural sub- 
ject of inquiry. Judging from the fact that out of the compar- 
itively few who have made any efforts in this direction, a large 
number have succeeded after very little practice, and some 
few, who have given the matter close attention, have acquired 
great proficiency, it is probable that the majority of people of 
either sex, between the ages of fifteen and fifty, could attain, 
if they chose to labor for it, with suitable practice, a certain 
grade of skill as muscle-readers, jirovided, of course, good 
subjects were experimented with. It is estimated that about 
one in five or ten persons can be put into the mesmeric trance 
by the ordinary processes ; and, under extraordinary circum- 
stances, while under great excitement, and by different causes, 
every one is liable to be thrown into certain stages or forms of 
trance ; the capacity for the trance-state is not exceptional ; it 
is not the peculier property of a few individuals — it belongs 
tro the human race ; similarly with the capacity for muscle- 
reading. 

The age at which this delicacy of touch is most marked is an 
inquiry of interest ; experience, up to date, would show that 
the very old are not good muscle-readers. I have never known 
of one under fifteen years of age to study this subject ; al- 
though it is conceivable that bright children, younger than 
that age, might have sufficient power of attention to acquire 
the art, certainly if they had good instruction in it. 

In these mind-reading experiments, as indeed in all similar 
or allied experiments with the living human beings, there are 
six sources of error, all of which must be absolutely guarded 
against if the results are to have any precise and authcrative 
value in science. 

1. The involuntary and unconscious action of brain and 
muscle, including trance, in which the subject becomes a pure 
autoinaton. I have used the phrase " involuntary life " to 
cover all these phenomena of the system that appear indepen- 
dently of the will. The majority of those who studied the 
subject of mind-reading — eyen physicians and physiologists — 
failed through want of a proper understanding or apprecia- 
tion of this side of physiology. 






S20 THE AET OF MIND EEADINO. 

2. Chance and coincidences. Neglect of ibis source of error 
"was the main cause of the unfortunate results of the wire and 
chain experiments with mind-readers. 

3. Intentional deception on the part of the subject. 

4. Unintentional deception on the part of the subject. 

5. Collusion of confederates. To guard against al<l the above 
sources of error it is necessary for the experimenter himself tp 
use deception. 

6. Unintentional assistance of audience or bystanders. 
When the muscie-reader performs before an enthusiastic 

audience, he is likely to be loudly applauded after each suc- 
cess ; and, if the excitement be great, the applause, with 
shuffling and rustling, may begin before he reaches the right 
locality, while he is approaching it ; when, on the other hand, 
he is far away from the locality, the audience wall inform him 
by ominous silence. The performance thus becomes like the 
hide-and-seek games of children, where they cry " Warm !" 
as the blindfolded operator approaches the hidden object; 
" Hot ! " as he comes close lO it ; and " Cold ! " when he wan- 
ders far from it. Some of the apparent successes with the 
wire-test may be thus explained. 

In regard to all the public exhibitions of muscle-i^.aders, it 
should be considered that the excitement and eclat ot the occa- 
sion contribute not a little to the success of the operator ; the 
subject grows enthusiastic— are partly entranced, it may be — 
become partners in the cause of the performer — end uncon- 
sciously aid him far more than they would do in a pimilar en- 
tertainment that was purely private. In a private ontertain- 
ment of muscle-reading at which I was present, ore of the 
subjects, while standing still, with his hands oi '.he • peratoi, 
actually took a step forward toward the locality on which his 
mind was concentrated, thus illustrating in a visiba n »uinei 
the process by which muscle-reading is made possible. 

The subject under discussion, it will be observed, :& to be 
studied both inductively and deductively. The general claim 
of mind or thought reading is disproved not by any such ex- 
periments as are here detailed, no matter how accurate or nu- 
merous they may be, but my reasoning deductively from the 
broad principle of physiology, that no human being has or 
can have any qualities different in kind from those that be- 
long to the race in general. The advantage which one human 
being has ovpr rt' of Iter— not excepting the greatest geniuses 
and the gtwWiwsit flJWUsters— is, and must be, of degree only, 



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